The importance of bringing to the knowledge of
the American people as many facts as possible in
respect to the situation in the Philippine Islands
cannot be exaggerated. These facts may be gath-
ered more satisfactorily from official sources than
from any other, and I understand the object of
this book is to give to the public, from such sources
and from personal observation, knowledge of actual
conditions in the Islands in concise, readable form
without requiring the somewhat tedious work of
reading long official accounts of government and
conditions that must deal with every detail.
The amount of misinformation and the lack of
any information at all in respect to the Philippines
are the two things that impress and oppress one
who has been engaged in the work of building up
a government in the Islands and attempting to
reform conditions so that the people may enjoy as
large a measure of individual liberty and self-govern-
ment as is consistent with the maintenance of law
and order and their own material progress.

INTRODUCTION

I hope, therefore, that this book and books of the
same character may have a wide circulation so as to
give accurate information as to the Philippines.
The real reason for differences in accounts that come
from the Islands is not so much in malicious attempts
to misrepresent facts, as it is in the inferences which
are drawn from facts actually witnessed and from
local conditions that prevail in some one small sec-
tion of the archipelago. If the fact is an excep-
tional circumstance, then the generalization that it
typifies the whole situation is as gross an injustice
as if the original fact were fiction. From the calm
statement of facts officially presented, less mistakes
of this sort are likely to be made.

CHAPTER I
THE CIVIL SERVICE
T HE INSTINCT to go west that has been
operative among the people of America ever
since the colonization of Jamestown and Plymouth,
and which has carried the waves of population across
the Connecticut, over the Alleghenies, up and down
the Mississippi valley, into the fastnesses of the
Rocky mountains and over their summits to Pacific
tidewater, has not been extinguished.
The nation is still young, its youth is still daring,
and the west still beckons onward. Oceans no
longer separate, they unite, distant lands, and to-
day Manila rather than San Francisco is the western
city of the United States.
Much history has been made since Dewey's bril-
liant May-day victory, when, by the flash of his grim
cannon, Spain read the handwriting on the wall
telling her that her colonial policy had been weighed
in the balance and found wanting. The soldier fol-
lowed the sailor and the civilian has followed the
5

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

soldier. The school book is taking the place of the
cartridge as a civilizer, and ere long the right-of-way
and the roadbed of new lines of transportation will
replace insurgent breastworks, and blockhouses will
be used as signal towers to direct the movements
of peaceful traffic.
The Philippines is a large and virgin territory
awaiting the magic touch of American push and
enterprise, in order to become an important con-
tributor to the world's wealth. The old customs
employed in agriculture, transportation, manufacture
and commerce must give way to those modern
methods which have in a single century converted
a large part of America from a wilderness, the range
of savages, to one of the garden spots of the earth.
Nature has been lavish with her gifts in the Philip-
pines. The climate is one of the best to be found
in the tropics. The extremes of temperature are
600 and 97, and the annual mean is 810. Yellow
fever, which in the past committed such ravages in
Cuba, is unknown, but cholera and smallpox prevail
to some extent among the natives, who are of course
ignorant of the most rudimentary rules of hygiene.
The health of the American troops when campaign-
ing in the provinces was remarkably good, even
better than when they were in camp at San Fran-
cisco. Modern medical science has robbed the
tropics of their terrors, and it has been demonstrated
that persons from temperate climes can keep their

OPPORTUNTTIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

health and a good portion of their energy in a hot
climate, providing they lead lives of temperance and
observe simple rules of health.
The area of the Islands is estimated at 127,853
square miles, over twice the area of Illinois and more
than three times the area of the state of Indiana,
while the density of population, estimated at from
7,000,000 to 9,000,000, is nearly 50 percent greater
than that of the states mentioned. The total area
of the Philippines is about the same as that of Japan,
but its civilized population is only about one-seventh
as great, so that while the population is more dense
than that of the United States, it is not to be com-
pared with that of the chief oriental countries, while
its fertility of soil and its abundance of natural
resources are superior to those of almost every other
land with which it can be compared. There is prac-
tically no limit to the development which may be
wrought out under a just government wisely admin-
istered. Capital can scarcely be kept away when
the conditions of government shall invite investment
and the thorough pacification of the more remote
parts permit of exploration. One' enthusiast well
acquainted with Philippine conditions, who is fre-
quently consulted by capitalists, assures his clients
that any enterprise except a sealskin-coat factory is
bound to succeed in the Philippines.
The wise and economical government of these
Islands, in view of their extent and population, will

OPPo-UuNITIE! IN iuE PHILIPPINEs

call for a large civil force of officers and employee.
The general policy of the government in this regard
is already outlined. It is the purpose to give positions
to natives whenever and wherever they can be fond
possessing the necessary moral and intellectual quali-
fications, and civil employment is held out as a
stimulus to encourage more general and thorough
education. At present, however, and this must hold
good for a long time to come, the majority of places
of trust and responsibility will have to be filled by
persons from the United States. Another rule has
also been strictly adhered to in the appointments
made to the Philippine service. Political influence
has not been considered. It has been the aim of the
Government, from the appointment of Judge William
H. Taft as Civil Governor down to the humblest
employee, to measure the men by merit rather than
by politics. All parts of the country and all parties
have contributed to the civil employees at present
in the Philippines. Upon the organization of the
present government many appointments without
examination had to be made, but soon after its arrival
in the Islands the United States Philippine Com-
mission passed a Civil Service law making provision
for almost every place under the government.
Civil positions in the Philippines under the pres-
ent statutes are open to the citizens of the Islands
and those of the United States who are. over eighteen
and iinder forty years of age.

OrPPourNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

There is a United States Civil Service Commission
at Washington, D. C., to which application for ex-
amination for positions in the United States should
be addressed, and there is also a Philippine Civil
Service Board at Manila, P. I., to which applications
for examination for positions in the Philippines
should be directed. In view of the fact that many
persons in the United States desire to be examined
for the Philippine service, arrangements have been
made with the United States Civil Service Commis-
sion by which the latter body will furnish the neces-
sary information and will hold examinations for the
Philippine Civil Service Board, and the successful
candidates will be certified to the Philippine Board
and thus become eligible to appointment. Transfers
may also be made from the classified service in the
United States to the classified service in the Philip-
pines, although no provision is made for transfers
from the classified service in the Philippines to the
classified service in the United States.
Civil positions in the Military Division of the
Philippines are not in the Philippine Civil Service,
but are in the Civil Service of the United States and
are, therefore, not subject to examination or classifi-
cation by the Philippine Board. These positions
include those under the Adjutant-General, Inspector-
General, Chief Quartermaster, Chief Copu issary,
Chief Surgeon, Chief Paymaster, Engineer Officer,
Ordnance Officer and Signal Officer.
9

OPPORTUNMEs IN THE PMLIPPIRR5

The following schedules show the positions in the
different branches of the service which will be filled
through Civil Service examinations:
Schedule A.-All civil employees of whatever des-
ignation, whether compensated by a fixed salary or
otherwise, whose duties are principally those of book-
keepers, bookbinders, clerks, chief clerks, draughts-
men, engineers (steam or mechanical), examiners,
inspectors, interpreters, janitors, letter-carriers, ma-
chinists, messengers, printers, stenographers, type-
writers, translators, or watchmen under the Military
Governor, the United States Philippine Commission,
the Treasurer of the Islands, the Auditor of the Isl-
ands, the Collector of Customs for the Islands, the
Collector of Internal Revenue for the Islands, the
Director of Posts for the Islands, the Civil Service
Board, the Bureau of Forestry, the Bureau of Mines,
the Bureau of Statistics, the General Superintendent
of Public Instruction, the Wardens of Penitentiaries
and Prisons, and the Provost Marshal General of
Manila. The offices, positions and employment
included in this schedule are classified, and vacancies
therein, if not filled by promotion, transfer or rein-
statement, shall be filled by competitive examination.
Schedule B.-Heads of departments and officers of
the municipal service of Manila, and professional,
technical and scientific positions, including all em-
ployees of whatever designation, whether compen-
sated by a fixed salary or otherwise, whose duties are

1OrsoTInIJLTIEs IN THE PHIUPPINEs

principally those of bacteriologists, cashiers, chem-
ists, civil engineers, disbursing officers, foresters,
physicians, practicantes, vaccinators and veterinar-
ians. The offices and positions in this schedule are
classified, and vacancies therein, if not filled by pro-
motion, transfer or reinstatement, shall be filled by
selections from certifications of eligibles secured by
competitive or non-competitive examination, or
otherwise, as the Board may determine to meet the
needs of the service.
Schedule C.-Positions of skilled and unskilled
laborers will be filled by appointment without ex-
amination according to the needs of the service, and
those first applying will be first appointed after the
Appointing Officer is satisfied as to their capacity for
labor, their habits of industry, sobriety and honesty.
No consideration whatever will be given to the
political or religious opinions of the applicants, but
those who are selected for employment must take
the oath of allegiance before being assigned to work,
and any skilled or unskilled laborer in the service
found to be disloyal to the United States of America,
as the supreme authority in' those Islands will be
immediately removed from service.
Schedule D.-The Treasurer of the Islands, the
Auditor of the Islands, the Collector of Customs for
the Islands, the Collector of Internal Revenue for
the Islands, the Director of Posts for the Islands,
the Head of the Bureau of Forestry, the Head of the

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE V4EIJPPMSB

Bureau of Mines, the General Superintendent of
Public Instruction, the Members of the Civil Service
Board and the Chief Statistician are not at present
subject to any form of examination, but provision
is made in the Civil Service act for these offices to
be filled after a short period from those in the ranks
of the service who through merit and promotion will
thus be enabled to reach these important positions.
Schedule E.-The Cashier of the Collector of Cus-
toms for the Islands, the Collector of Customs at
Iloilo and the Collector of Customs at Cebu are not
now subject to any form of examination, but pro-
vision is made to bring them within the scope of the
Civil Service law.
Schedule F.-One private secretary for the Mili-
tary Governor and for each member of the United
States Philippine Commission, members of the police
force and of the fire department of the city of
Manila, guards at prisons and penitentiaries and
school teachers of the Department of Public Instruc-
tion are not classified and therefore are not subject
to any form of examination by the Civil Service
Board.
At the date of the last report of the Civil Service
Board 4606 positions in the Civil Service had been
filled, with salaries ranging from $7500 down to $72
per annum. Of this number, 2044 were Americans
and 2562 were Filipinos.
In these figures are not included the teachers at

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINS

present employed in the public schools of the Islands,
as they do not come under the control of the Civil
Service Board, but look to the Superintendent of
Public Instruction both for appointment and for
assignment to their respective fields of labor.
On October 1, 1901, the date of the last report
of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, 28 per-
sons were employed in the Bureau of Public Instruc-
tion with salaries ranging from $2250 for the Chief
Clerk down to $75 per annum for laborers. There
were also under the direction of the department 724
American teachers, the Superintendent of the Manila
schools receiving $3000 per annum, three Division
Superintendents receiving $2500, two receiving
$2250, and seven receiving $2000. The salaries of
the teachers range from $1500 to $1000.
A normal school has been opened with an attend-
ance of 250 students; teachers for the trade school
are now ready to begin instruction and an agricul-
tural school has been organized.
There are probably over 150,000 Filipino pupils
enrolled in the free primary schools which have been
established by the American Government and over
75,000 in actual attendance. There are probably
3000 to 4000 elementary Filipino teachers, and about
2000 of them are receiving one hour of English in-
struction daily. There are at least 10,000 adults
receiving English instruction in the evening schools
conducted by American teachers. Great interest is
13

OPPORTUNITIhS IN THE PHILIPPINS

shown by Filipinos generally in educational matters
and the eagerness for English instruction remains
not only unabated but is rather on the increase; and
when English is generally read and understood, the
wealth of our literature will wield a potent influence
in moulding public sentiment and aid in preparing
the natives of the Islands for that larger measure of
self-government that is both their wish and the de-
sire of the United States.
The Forestry Bureau has found difficulty in secur-
ing the personnel needed in order to carry out its
plans for protecting the forests and at the same time
grant opportunity to cut the timber necessary to
supply the demands of commerce. The Chief of
the Bureau, Captain George P. Ahern, reports that
it has been impossible to secure two foresters, four
inspectors and eight first-class rangers, who are
needed very much at the present time. Some tech-
nical knowledge is absolutely necessary, and as scien-
tific forestry is a comparatively new study in the
United States, the present plans of the United
States Agricultural Department will possibly absorb
all the trained foresters at present available. An
effort to secure forestry officials from Java at a
salary of $200 per month brought out the fact that
expert foresters were paid from $310 to $610 per
month and therefore $200 was no temptation to them
to abandon their present positions. About the same
rate is paid in India also, and this branch of practical

OPPOBTURITIRS IN THE PHILIPPINEm

science is not likely to become overcrowded for some
time.
Private sources of information from Manila reveal
the fact that while clerical positions are somewhat
better paid than similar positions in the government
service in the United States, yet it is hard for the
Insular government to retain its employees, as busi-
ness houses and private corporations offer better
salaries for competent clerks, stenographers and type-
writers than is paid by the government.
The cost of living in Manila has increased very
much since the American occupation and is higher
than in cities of like size in the United States, yet
there are some compensating advantages. It is the
opinion of the officials there that the present abnor-
mal conditions will correct themselves when the city
becomes adjusted to the new state of affairs. The
Islands are at present in a state of transition. They
are off with the old order, but have not yet become
accustomed to the new. Those who go to the Philip-
pines should lay in a good stock of patience and
good humor, and determine to make the best of
things as they find them. Habits change slowly,
and the few Americans there, forceful as they may
be, cannot hope to bring six or seven millions of
people to their ways, even though they should be
better ways than the old to which the natives cling
with such persistence. It will also occur oftentimes
that many things, which upon first acquaintance
15

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINBB

seem incongruous and ill advised, will be found upon
investigation and experience to be based upon cli-
matic or other conditions which fully justify their
existence.
A Civil Service appointee who reached Manila in
November, 1901, in writing to a friend described her
first impressions of Manila as follows:
"At 9.30 next morning we went ashore to begin
the new life-no more day dreams on deck, but the
stern reality. Pen cannot describe nor brush paint
the sights in Manila bay or the dirty Pasig, with its
odd cascos, bancos, launches and all manner of sail-
ing craft; the old Spanish fort, where many prisoners
were put in cells underground and forgotten at high
tide, in the days when Spanish sovereignty reigned
supreme; the natives (decidedly decollete from the
head down and feet up), and on the Escolta the
carromatas, quilis and dear little ponies, caraboas and
carts, and the Spanish houses, which all look alike to
me, whether store or dwelling, except that in dwell-
ings the first floor is used for the horses, chickens
and dogs, were intensely interesting.
"My 'bunkie' and I took a room together
temporarily. I say temporarily advisedly, as I paid
only $7 per day.
"Did you ever sleep in a Filipino sleeping ma-
chine? No! Well you don't want to. After seven
nights in a sleeping-car berth, and twenty days and
twenty-four nights in a bunk on the good ship
16

OPPOBTUTITIEB IN THE PHILIPPINE

'Haneock/ I anticipated much comfort and rest in
a bed when I got ashore, but my hopes were dashed
at the first sight of the room, which contained be-
sides a washstand, two straight-backed chairs, a
small table, and a wardrobe so musty you would not
dare to hang anything in it, a nondescript piece of
furniture-it is called a Filipino sleeping machine,
hut the best description I can give of it is to say it
looks like a hearse, minus the glass sides, wheels and
horses, but covered with a thick screen, through
which no air passes, but behind which you must
sleep (?) or make an effort to, else you will be liter-
ally eaten up by mosquitoes. The bottom of the
hearse-I mean bed-is made of cane, the same as
is used for chair bottoms in the States, over this
is a sheet, only one, and over that a counterpain
(you may spell that pane in the States, but I prefer
the pain here); the head of the corp-person who
desires to sleep (notice I say 'desires ')-rests upon
a very hard pillow made of chicken feathers, and
frequently very musty.
"We were warned to keep our nets tucked in very
closely, as a cockroach, which is about eight inches
long, is quite common and is said to eat off your toes
while you sleep, unless this precaution is taken. I
have preserved my toes so far, but have seen the
cockroaches, likewise lizards, which slide over your
walls at night and sing you to rest. The lizards are
perfectly harmless, and I'm told that in time you

OPPorTUNmRS IN THE PHILPPINE

learn to love them and carry them around with you
as pets, but at present writing I have not reached
that point.
"To go back to our first night: in the wee small
hours of the morning while I was moaning and
groaning in a half-doze, vainly trying to find a soft
spot, I was more fully aroused by the strains of
'America' wafted on the silent air from an American
club close by. There they were enjoying a hop,
regardless of the fact that it was between four and
five o'clock Sunday morning. In a moment my
room-mate said 'Miss are you awake?' I
acknowledged that I was. 'Do you hear what
that band is playing?' she continued. Again I re-
plied in the affirmative. A moment's silence ensued,
and then in a voice choked with sobs, she added,
'Don't you feel like crying?'
I moved to Hotel Delmonico, Walled City-name
sounds well, but don't allow it to deceive you. What's
in a name? Echo answers $120 (Mexican) per month
for this one. The stories told in the States of the
food here are quite untrue. This hotel is Spanish,
and the meals, while served in courses by a muchacho,
and very unlike American cooking, are thoroughly
palatable, and since coming ashore I have a voracious
appetite and have no difficulty in finding enough to
appease it. Rice is seldom served, and the soldier
who wrote that the chief article of food in the Philip-
pines was 'boiled rice, stewed rice, baked rice, fried

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PMUn'PPUIas

rice and rice' was poorly informed if he referred to
Manila. I give below the menu for a dinner:
Oyster Soup.
Salad.
Boiled Shrimp, Pork ala Spagnole,
Mutton s'ls Cutlet Milanes, Stewed Kidney,
Ham, with Tomatoes, Beef a'la Mode, Rost Beet,
Rost Pot~toes, Cabbage, Spinach,
Tomatoes.
Cheese, Ice Cream, Fraits,
Coffee, Tea.
As to climate, I can say little. We arrived after
the rainy season (so we were told). However, for
your information I will say that it has rained steadily
for eight days, and still rains. If you think you
ever saw it rain in the United States you should
undeceive yourself at once. What you call rain is
simply a falling mist-it only rains in the Philip-
pines. Not only does it rain outside, but I came
home the other day to find a miniature Niagara Falls
on my walls-just gathering dampness you know.
Our trunks are covered with mold and so are our
shoes, but that's expected, at least in the Walled City.
As soon as I have the time and money, I'm go-
ing to look up a place in Ermita to board. Ermita
is on the bay and is beautiful and healthful. But
living there necessitates the purchase of a pony, a
carromata or quilis, and the employment of a
cochero. I'm told that when I get all of these
things, my troubles will have just begun. The car-
19

__I __ _

OProRfuNITua iN Tru PHILrnqxms

romata may be all right, but the pony and the cochero
are not to be depended upon. Some of the ponies
are beautiful little animals and look as docile and
lamblike as kittens, but wait until you start out with
one and the chances are ten to one that he will balk
every two blocks, or oftener if you try to turn him
round, and that it will take all the cocheros and
policemen in sight to induce him to cross the Bridge
of Spain. The cochero-well, I'll write of his
qualifications later."
This quotation is given, not because the state-
ments are above criticism in every particular, but
they are the first vivid impressions of an intelligent
and cultured lady on landing at Manila. More inti-
mate acquaintance may change or modify these first
impressions, but with all it makes an intensely inter-
esting picture of life in the Orient, which will indeed
attract rather than repel those who may be thinking
of making their future home in those distant pos-
sessions.
When appointments are made in the United States
to positions in the Philippine Civil Service, the
government of the Philippine Islands, as a rule,
furnishes transportation from the home of the ap-
pointee to the port of embarkation, and thence on
a government transport to Manila. The appointee
will be required to pay $1.50 per day for subsistence
while on the transport, and this amount may or may
not be returned to him according to the arrange-

OPPOrTUrnTIBa IN TrH PmHIuPPnn

ments previously made with reference thereto.
Transportation is also provided in some instances for
the immediate family of the appointee. All these
details can and should be arranged and clearly under-
stood -before departure, and the government will
cheerfully give explicit directions how to proceed
in every individual instance.
The number of positions and the amount of work
to be performed in the Philippines will constantly
increase. Only the framework of the government
has been erected at present and with the complete
establishment of peace every department will grow
and will require a larger force to handle the in-
creasing volume of business. An illustration of this
situation is afforded by the fact that each of the
provinces under civil government has a supervisor
who must be an engineer and who will have charge
of the roads and road-building as well as of other
internal improvements, and the amount of work is
so large that it will be impossible for one man to
direct it and manage the force that will be employed
thereon. The quota of teachers is not yet filled, and
there will be calls for others from the States, as well
as for specialists in the various lines of educational
work.
Arrangements are being made in some American
colleges and universities to give a course of special
instruction in order to prepare students for positions
in the Philippines, and attention will be given to
21

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPMNES

the history, customs, languages and needs of these
new lands, and a study made of the British Civil
Service in India which has given such satisfactory
results in the government of that vast empire.
As the official language of the Philippines; Porto
Rico, and Cuba has been Spanish, and all records
and laws are in that language, and as it is the com-
mon language of commerce, those who wish to qualify
for positions and advancement in the Insular Civil
Service would do well to acquaint themselves with
Spanish. It has the advantage of being a language
easily acquired, and a few months' faithful study,
added to actual contact with the people who speak
the tongue will enable any student to acquire a
good working knowledge thereof. Even in its home
departments the United States Government now re-
quires a number of Spanish-speaking clerks and in-
terpreters, and the demand is likely to increase
rather than diminish. The time has arrived when
Spanish should be given an important place among
the modern languages taught in the schools, and time
devoted.thereto will not be lost.

OPPonTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

CHAPTER II
FORESTS AND TIMBE
HE MOST patent and striking element of
wealth in the Philippines consists of its forests.
The Islands are all mountainous, some of the high
peaks having an altitude of nearly 9000 feet. In
many of the islands the steep mountain slopes begin
close to the seacoast, and to the casual observer the
entire area seems to be woodland. It has been esti-
mated, and estimates have not yet given way to
actual surveys, that of the 73,000,000 acres in the
islands, only about 6,000,000 are under cultivation.'
The official geographical statistics of 1876 fix the
forest area at 51,537,243 acres.
Fernando Castro estimated the forest area in 1890
at 48,112,920 acres. This includes all woodland,
private as well as public.
As one travels over the Islands he is constantly
struck with the large population to the square mile
and the scarcity of timber close to the main traveled
routes and centers of population. As one leaves
these main lines of communication vast virgin forests
are met with, rich in valuable hard woods, dyewoods,
gums and other products, waiting for the skill and

SJordana, 1890.

OPPORTUNITIEB IN THE PHILIPPINE

enterprise of the American capitalist. On the Island
of Cebu, where there is a population of 290 to the
square mile, not a merchantable stick of timber is
evident, with the exception of a small tract of forest
in the northern end of the Island, which it is now
the purpose to preserve with care.
The Island of Panay, with a population of 150 to
the square mile, is almost denuded of good timber.
In Luzon, where the population averages seventy-
eight to the square mile, no timber is found in the
vicinity of the centers of population. In travelling
over the line of railway from Manila to Dagupan, a
distance of 120 miles, not a single merchantable stick
of timber can be seen within several miles of the
road. But there are tracts in various parts of Luzon
where much valuable timber remains. In the north-
ern end of the island, in Cagayan and Isabela prov-
inces, which by the way are the best tobacco districts
of the archipelago, there are at least two million
acres of valuable forest remaining. The entire east
coast of Luzon, from the northern end as far south
as Atimonan, comprising several million acres, is
practically a virgin forest. In northwestern Luzon
very little merchantable timber is left, with the ex-
ception of the slopes above 3000 feet, where flour-
ishes a species of pine, Pinus insularis, all ages
mingling together. The maximum size of the trees
is close to four feet in diameter and more than one
hundred feet in height. In this region the trees

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

attain a diameter of twelve inches in about twenty
years. Almost every acre of these northwestern
mountains is burnt over each year by the savages,
but the larger pines seem to survive these repeated
scorchings. Through central Luzon the timber has
been cut away, leaving small tracts of fairly good
forest in a few places. In southern Luzon, in Tay-
abas and the Camarines, are found some large tracts
fairly well covered with a variety of valuable tree
species.
Upon entering the southwestern islands, extending
from Mindoro through to Paragua, a region is en-
countered that has been travelled but little, and
where the population is sparse. This territory is
largely covered with virgin forests, almost untouched
by the hand of man.
In this group of islands are found more than
4,000,000 acres of virgin forest extending from the
water's edge to the summits of the mountains. The
general lay of the land will aid in getting the timber
from the forests to tidewater, where it can be trans-
ported to the markets of Manila, or to vessels which
will carry it to other lands. Some cutting has been
done in this region, but it amounts to a mere thin-
ning of the edges of the forests. This group of
islands is celebrated for the great quantity of narra,
or Philippine mahogany, molave, ipil, and calantas,
Philippine cedar.
The forests here are composed of valuable hard

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINEB

woods, four or five feet in diameter, with magnificent
clear trunks extending upward for eighty feet to the
first limb. As a rule it is found that all over the
islands the largest trees have not been felled, owing
to the lack of facilities for handling heavy timbers.
Very little cleared land is found in Mindoro. The
reputation as a death trap for white men, which it
has held in the past, will change when a few hundred
square miles have been cleared of timber and de-
voted to agriculture. A vigorous thinning of at least
fifty percent of the present forest growth of Mindoro
and Paragua would make them much more salubri-
ous than at present.
The island of Mindanao, with an area of more than
23,000,000 acres, is almost entirely covered with for-
est. This large island has three water or river sys-
tems which drain large tracts of territory and will
afford easy means of egress for the timber of the
interior parts of the island. The major part of the
population of this island is to be found in the coast
towns, with the exception of the region in the north
surrounding the lake of Lanao, where there is a large
population of Moros.
Very little timber has been cut in this island owing
to the scarcity of labor and the distance from market.
It is safe to estimate at least 10,000,000 acres of
virgin forest for this island alone. The southern
part of Mindanao, the region southeast of Cotabato,
is noted for its gutta-percha, rubber and other gums.

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

More than $300,000 was paid in the year 1890 at
Cotabato for these gums alone, all of the product
being shipped to Singapore.
Of the other larger islands it may be said that
valuable forests are found in the islands of Leyte
and Samar. The island of Negros has been cut over
rather thoroughly for a great many years, and it will
not be long before it will be in the same condition
as the island of Cebu, if the forests are not protected.
The Forestry Bureau of the Philippine Islands
says in its official report: "We may safely estimate
that there are at least 20,000,000 acres of virgin
forest in these Islands, with an average of at least
15,000 feet board measure of valuable hard wood to
the acre. This would make the quantity of valuable
timber awaiting utilization amount to the almost in-
conceivable quantity of 300,000,000,000 feet board
measure, an amount which the mind refuses to grasp,
and represents an amount of wealth and a source
for the investment of capital that cannot be ex-
hausted for many generations.
Up to the present date the Forestry Bureau, with
its limited personnel and being yet new to the work
committed to its charge, has listed 665 native tree
species. Several hundred of these are but little
known save by name, and there is no English equiva-
lent that would give any idea of what they are like.
During the past year about 160 different species of
native woods have entered the market, the most

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

valuable of which for construction purposes is
molave. Molave, ipil, yacal, and dungon are re-
markable for their durability and strength. The
qualities of a very few of these woods are very well
known to the natives, and the specifications for the
main timbers in house construction carefully provide
that the timbers used shall be some of those above
mentioned. In addition to their value in ordinary
construction, they have exceptional qualities when
used as paving blocks. Two of the bridges in
Manila were paved with molave blocks about seven
years ago and have been subjected to the heaviest
traffic in the city, and apparently at the present
date, not a single block has been crushed or splin-
tered, a record made by no paving block employed
in the United States.
The calantas, or Philippine cedar, is almost en-
tirely used in making cigar boxes. Narra, tindalo,
acle, and luan are used principally as furniture
woods. Betis, aranga, and dungon are generally
used for piling, for which there is a great demand
in the Manila market. The other important con-
struction woods are baticulin, batitinan, amuguis,
guijo, apitong, apanao, sacat, balacat, malabulac, and
malasantol.
The Pullman Palace Car Company, at no little
expense, imported from the Philippines forty-eight
logs as an experiment, and it is their testimony that
they were the best tropical hard woods that had ever

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINHES

entered their works, and their industry has called
for the finest woods from all parts of the world. It
is only a question of time when the lumber business
of the Philippines will be one of the leading indus-
tries of the Islands, giving employment to capital,
calling for intelligent labor and superintendence, and
contributing to the wealth both of the Islands and
of the United States.
Up to the present time it has been impossible to
cut enough timber for the actual necessities of the
Islands, and much lumber has been imported from
the United States in order to enable the government
to build barracks and quarters for the troops now in
the Philippines, as well as for private consumption.
The amount of timber used per capital is less than
one percent of the corresponding amount used ih
the United States, notwithstanding the fact that
rents are abnormally high in Manila and the supply
of houses does not begin to equal the demand.
There is at present a call for millions of feet of
lumber, lumber which is now rotting in the forests,
but which cannot be carried to market. The total
amount used, including importations is much less
than the annual forest growth of the single province
of Cagayan in northern Luzon.
Engineers and builders in Hongkong, Singapore
and other ports in the Orient prefer the timber of
the Philippines to that of other islands of the East
Indies, but have lately been unable to seure eargow

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

owing to the scarcity of the supply on the market
and the great local demand.
The Philippine government has divided the timber
of the Islands into six different grades or groups and
charge a fixed tax per cubic foot for all timber taken
from the public forests. This tax is as follows:
Cta. per en. ft.
Superior group ................................. 14
First group .................................. 10
Second group ................................ 8
Third group... ............................... 3
Fourth group................................. 2
Fifth group.................................. 1

Serious objections have been made to these prices
as being too high, much higher than is charged by
other governments who place a tax upon their forest
products and with whom the Philippines will have to
compete, and efforts are being made to have these
rates made much lower.
A company that is planning to put in thirty-seven
miles of street railway in Manila claims that it can
import ties from Australia cheaper than it can
cut and place them in Manila. It alleges that the
timber tax on ties would amount to about fifty-five
cents each, to which would have to be added the
cost of cutting and transportation, while they can
be laid down -in Manila from Australia at a cost of
seventy-five cents apiece. It is also asserted that the
Manila and Dagupan Railway imported its ties from

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHIIPPDNMx

Australia simply from motives of economy. These
facts would seem to indicate either that the tax is
high or that there should be some change in the
classification.
Many applications are now pending for the privi-
lege of cutting timber in the forests of the Philip-
pines, and one company desires, should permission
be granted, to construct some twenty miles of narrow
gauge railway into a heavy timber region, erect saw-
mills and get out timber for the market that is
calling for so much more lumber than can at present
be furnished.
The difficulties attending the development of a
lumber industry on a large scale are neither few
nor trivial. To begin with there are no roads into
the best forest tracts, and road-building in a region
of torrential tropical rains is no light undertaking.
The rivers also are full of snags and other impedi-
ments to their use as driveways, while the question
of the health of laborers must also be considered.
Many of the most valuable woods will not float, thus
necessitating the use of bamboo rafts, or placing
alternate logs of light specific gravity between the
heavy logs, and this operation entails additional
expense. On the logging roads, even after they are
constructed, the only animal available for trans-
portation is the acarbao, an animal of but moderate
strength, which readily succumbs to overwork or
disease, and which during the past few years has

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

suffered severely from the plague of the rinderpest,
which has decimated the supply of the islands. There
are no appliances in the islands suitable for handling
large and heavy logs, and even if such means should
be introduced, as they undoubtedly will be, skilled
white labor must be employed until natives are prop-
erly trained to their use, and the natives have not
as yet shown any special mechanical ingenuity.
The greater part of the natives, especially those
living near large forest tracts, seem disinclined to
constant heavy labor and cannot be depended on to
remain any length of time at their work. It is the
testimony of the United States Philippine Commis-
sion that such labor as can be secured is irregular,
poor, and much more expensive for the work done
than in the United States. How much of this diffi-
culty is due to unsettled conditions and how much
is inherent in the race cannot be decided, but with
the pacification of the provinces labor will become
easier to secure and better in quality, though it will
long be unsatisfactory when measured by American
standards. Throughout the Archipelago wages have
doubled, and in many cases trebled, since 1898. In
too many instances the immediate result of doubling
the wage has been to induce the laborer to work
just half as many days.
The wise regulations adopted for the preservation
of the forests will be an impediment to their cutting
in the manner that has obtained hitherto in the
as

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PMILIPPINES

United States. The forestry officials are strictly
charged to supervise the work of the logger and to
see that only the proper trees are felled. No tree
can be cut down without the permission of the super-
visor, and then the timber must be hauled through
the forests with the least possible damage to the
younger growth. The forestry regulations also pro-
vide that the felling of any tree species of the supe-
rior or first group of less diameter than 40 centi-
meters (151 inches) is absolutely prohibited. When
the trees are felled and piled, notice must be sent
to the nearest forestry official, whose duty it is to
measure, appraise, and see that the government valu-
ation is paid on the timber before it is removed.
When this timber reaches the market it is again
inspected by an official who carefully revises the
classification of the first official, measuring each log
a second time and sees to it that the government is
paid its full value for its timber.
The Forestry Bureau has calculated that when
American appliances and skill are at work in the
forests, cargoes of the more valuable woods can be
placed on board ship for not more than $1, Mexican
(fifty cents gold), per cubic foot. Transportation
to the United States costs at present from $9 to $15,
gold, per thousand feet, board measure. Almost any
length can be obtained and diameters up to five and
six feet.
During the period of Spanish control the largest

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

and finest trees were left untouched, because there
were no appliances with which to handle them after
felling. Occasionally a tree six or seven feet in
diameter would be felled and a single slab taken from
it, from which to make a table. Many of these fine
table tops can be now seen in different parts of the
islands, some of them more than seven feet in
diameter.
While many of the varieties of timber are now
known to be valuable, and already have an assured
place in the timber markets of the world, there are
others that are yet new, the beauty, durability and
facility for working up into furniture of which must
yet be demonstrated, but there can be no question
as to the wealth, quality and supply of the great
forest areas which lie open to investigation.
The whole timber problem of the Philippines is
an attractive one for the active American, whose
field of operation in many parts of the United States
has become limited by the fact that so much of the
territory has been cut over, and when government
restrictions and the exigencies of the new industry
become adjusted in a proper manner, portable rail-
ways, driveways, machinery for handling heavy tim-
bers, sawmills for preparing lumber for market, and
even mills for working up this lumber into con-
venient and useful forms will become an important
industry and contribute not only to the revenues of
the Islands but to their development and civilization.
34

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIxPPIWE

CHAPTER III
GUTTA-PERCHA AND RuBBEB

BOTH gutta-percha and rubber are the products
of certain tropical trees and vines. They issue
from a cut in the bark of the plant in the form of
milk or latex, which hardens or coagulates on stand-
ing or through the effect of heat and certain chem-
icals. There are three physical distinctions between
gutta-percha and rubber, viz.:
Gutta-percha is tough, horn-like and non-elastic;
rubber is soft and very elastic.
Under the influence of moderate heat, gutta-
percha becomes soft and plastic, like putty, and can
be moulded into any desired shape, retaining that
shape when cold; rubber is unaffected by the same
heat.
Under the influence of water, rubber changes
slowly and decomposes, loosing its elastic and water-
proof qualities; gutta-percha on the other hand re-
mains practically unchanged in water, for how many
years no one knows.
The chief uses for rubber are for hose, tubing,
pneumatic tires, waterproof attire, toys, and other
similar articles. Almost the sole use of gutta-percha
is the insulation of electric submarine and land
cables.

OPPORTUTrrIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

The home of the rubber trees and vines is in
every fertile and tropical land. The number of
species of both trees and vines is very great. Most
of the important species are known scientifically and
new kinds are being discovered every year, as each
country possesses trees peculiar to itself. South
America produces the best rubber; the second quality
is probably from India, the Malay Peninsula and the
adjacent islands, though Mexico and Central Amer-
ica come close to those last mentioned. Africa, with
her unknown number of tree species and vines, prom-
ises to become one of the heaviest rubber-producing
countries of the future.
Gutta-percha, so far as known at the present, is
absolutely limited to the Malay Peninsula, Borneo
and Sumatra and the small islands lying between.
Neither Java, Celebes nor the Moluccas, which are
near by, have any native gutta-percha trees. The
question as to whether the Philippines is within the
gutta-percha zone is a disputed one, and in planning
for the future of this industry the fact of its limited
area and the few tree species which afford the gum,
should be taken into consideration. With the in-
creased demand and the high price paid for gutta-
percha, different kinds of trees have been found
which give the valued gum, but collectors, dealers
and botanists. all agree that the principal source of
supply lies almost exclusively in one kind of tree.
The wild natives of the Malay Peninsula, Borneo

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINEB

and Sumatra have been in the past, and still are, the
gutta-percha collectors. When a tree is found, deep
in the tropical forest, far from the traveled road, it
is cut down, the limbs chopped off, and the bark of
the entire trunk is ringed from end to end. The
gutta-percha milk exudes and rapidly hardens, and
it is then pulled off and thrown into a basket, and
the collector passes on to find another tree which
he treats in the same manner. When a sufficient
amount of the gum has been collected the native
returns to his camp and casts the collected gum into
hot water, and when the gutta-percha becomes plas-
tic, it is worked up into balls, with the bark, dirt,
stones and used-up hatchets, worked into the inside
as much as possible. It is then taken to the nearest
waterway, where it is stored until a Chinese trader
passes and is then eagerly exchanged for cheap
clothes, cutlery, jewelry, tobacco, liquor and other
civilizing objects of trade.'
The Chinese traders land the gum at some seaport
town where the Chinese merchants usually soften it
up and adulterate the best grades with cheaper ones,
and then it goes to Singapore for another mixing,
adulterating, or cleaning at the hands of Singapore
Chinese, who work it into the various grades recog-

'Dr. V. Ramburgh relates that away up in the center of
Borneo he met a Chinaman doing a thriving business in gutta-
percha, giving the native savages condensed milk in exchange
therefore.

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

nized and bought by foreign exporters. The end of
its journey is in Europe or America at the cable
factories. Rumors of new cable lines affect the
market and raise the price of the gum at Singapore,
and the rumors of successful experiments with wire-
less telegraphy tend to depress the market, making
an interesting illustration of how the occupation of
the savage forest wanderers of the Far East is affected
by the latest commercial developments and the most
recent achievements in science.
The natives from their careless methods secure on
an average about one pound of gum from each tree,
while Uray by experimenting on a large tree found
in the forest, and after analyzing the bark and leaves
estimated that there were at least twenty-five pounds
in the entire tree.
The present condition of the gutta-percha supply
is far from satisfactory. In 1843, when first dis-
covered, the tree was abundant on Singapore Island
and the Malay Peninsula, but by 1857 the large
trees had all disappeared. Then the trees of Borneo
and Sumatra shared the same fate, and at present
all the gutta-percha comes from the almost unknown
and unexplored regions of central Borneo, Sumatra
and the Malay Peninsula.
The annual output has increased but little within
the past five years, when the high price enticed more
native gatherers into the forests. But the demand
has been so out of proportion to the supply that the
38

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

Chinese have had to resort more and more to adul-
teration. Consequently, of the cheaper grades there
seems to be a sufficient supply on hand, but of the
best variety there is not more than a ton all told,
with a demand for 600 or 700 tons. Of the twenty-
five different varieties, the following table gives the
principal ones, with their approximate amount of
gutta and their prices for September, 1901, as given
by Low How Kim and Company, one of the largest
gutta-percha dealers in Singapore:
Fr ct. ofgatta Prle pr HiP g l
Klai. VaTrity. aIdtg to plcUls in price
Obo-b. unL. IISL
"Reds." Pahang. 78 M 85
Bolongon. 19 =5
Seundek. Bagan. 57 210 ;0
serpon. 56 180 B0
Sarawak. 86.
White. Treganor. 62 a
Pahang. .. 0
Pe .. 87
Mixed reds. Sarawak 1. 61 110
Sarawak 2. 5 90
Sarawak 3. I 10
Sarawak .. 40
Reboiled. Padang. 50
Penang. .. 10
Siak. .. 1
From the figures compiled by the statistical de-
partment of Singapore, the amount of gutta-percha
exported from there for the last fifty years is prob-
ably 300,000,000 pounds. This is interesting as
giving a clew to the number of trees destroyed during
that time, even allowing two pounds to a tree, while

'As the percentage of gutta in a sample of pure gutts-perch.
from the ~speie DfehopBU utta is generally 86 to o0, it is oertlin
that even the best commercial variety is far from being pure.
'A picul Is equal to 13 pounds.
39

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

the amount wasted by the present method might
also be calculated at ten times 3,000,000.
In Singapore the Philippines are credited with
having produced 2321 piculs (40,5924 pounds) of
gutta for the first half of 1901, though the facilities
for tracing the true origin of the gum are not very
satisfactory.
Extensive experiments are being made looking to
the cultivation of the tree, and there are now experi-
mental nurseries at Singapore, Malacca, Penang and
at Buitenzorg, all under government protection.
Two private Dutch companies have also started
gutta-percha plantations and have factories for the
extraction of the gum from the leaves of the trees,
while the French government is experimenting with
a submarine cable insulated with gutta-percha ex-
tracted from leaves, and though the cable has been
in the water for four years, the reports continue to
be satisfactory.
While it is conceded that the Jolo Archipelago,
the southwestern part of the Philippines, supplies
a small amount of gutta-percha, the future industry
in this valuable gum will depend on plantings, which
in other parts may be said to have passed the experi-
mental stage, and unless the demand should cease,
the Moros in that far outpost of the Oriental posses-
sions of the United States will contribute to the
world's supply of insulating material for submarine
cables, a material which will be in great demand
40

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

when this government is prepared to lay a Pacific
cable.
It is an industry of which but little can be said at
the present time, and its profitable development as
a civilized industry is simply one of the future pos-
sibilities of the Philippines.
Rubber, unlike gutta-percha, is produced in many
countries, and is derived from so many different
species of trees and vines that at present it is not
so much a question of saving the industry from ex-
tinction, as is the case with gutta-percha, but rather
one of, first, finding the best kinds; second, working
out the best methods of collecting and preserving it;
and third, cultivating the trees or vines on a large
scale when the conditions of the market warrant, and
making said cultivation a profitable one.
A few of the principal kinds of rubber are here
given to show the wide distribution of this valuable
gum.
Commermcl Name. Country. Boace. Botsucl lame.
Pare. Brail. Tre Herea braillenals.
Coae Ses. do do Mnlhot laxocum
Pe C o. Pdo Hiera nd others.
Gusyaqul. Ecuador and Colombia do Catmllo elastis.
Mexican scrap. LMexo nd tral do do
e. re.^ cAmerica. d do
Senetal Bals Budan. do v .Vhi Landolphle
Sierra Lone Wt Al. do do
oofl Bells rnch Kono. do Lmdolpis.
mblqte Belle erman Arica. do ......
MdgCr PLky...... ......
Asam. Bengal. i n ~d Ficus Orcols.
PeaUg. BSumtre. Te. Fles.
Ceylon. Ceylon. do Malbot glU
Borneo. Borneo. Vine. ilMcib*.
Nw Caledonto. Australla. Tree. L O
41

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINE

In rubber investigations the explorer and the
botanist have been richly rewarded. Each year adds
to the list as new countries are explored, developed
and contribute their quota to the ever-flowing com-
merce of this busy world. The demand for rubber is
constantly increasing, and there is nothing at present
in sight that can take its place, nor is it likely that
any invention will make it useless.
As already stated, the rubber exudes from a wound
in the bark of the rubber tree or vine in the form
of milk. Two problems confront the collector-the
best method of extracting the milk from the tree,
and the treatment that should be given to the milk
in order to secure the best possible results.
Most of the native rubber collectors, more civilized
as a rule than the gutta-percha collectors, have sense
enough not to cut down the tree and ring the bark,
yet many, through carelessness and ignorance, are
so clumsy in the manner of tapping the bark that
they often make large cuts into the wood and the
tree is left a prey to insects and borers, which in
time cause the death of the tree. Large rubber
tracts in the great valley of the Amazon and in Cen-
tral America have suffered in this manner, so that
the present supply of the best gum is brought from
the more remote districts of the interior.
In the East. Indies no effort is made to save the
trees and vines, the latter especially are doomed to
early destruction, for the custom is to tear the vine
42

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

away from its supporting tree, cut it into short
lengths, and suspend the pieces over a receptacle into
which the milk exudes. Heat is sometimes applied
to one end of the piece in order to drive the milk
out at the other end. This is the method in vogue at
present in the Philippines where the rubber vine
is known to exist.
Scientific experiments have been made in Ceylon,
Penang, Singapore and Java which show that every
variety of rubber tree and vine can be tapped so as
to get a large percent of the rubber actually in the
plant without doing any apparent harm. An incis-
ion is made in the bark so that the greatest number
of milk ducts will be cut, while no cutting or injury
of the inner wood takes place. When the tapping is
properly done, the wound quickly heals, no borers
or insects attack the tree and the milk supply com-
mences at once to reform.
So much has been done in the way of rubber cul-
tivation in India, the Malay Peninsula and Java,
where conditions obtain very similar to those which
obtain in the Philippines, that the industry has
passed the experimental stage. The first good har-
vest can only be expected after six years, although
efforts have been made to secure earlier returns.
There are some who advocate the planting and cut-
ting down of the small trees every year and extract-
ing all the milk they produce. Others question the
practicability of this process. After the trees com-

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

mence to give milk from tapping, the planters esti-
mate a return of from $150 to $200 per acre from
the rubber crop, even at the prices at present quoted.
The rubber trees (Ficus) which have been planted
in many of the Philippine Islands have grown lux-
uriously, and a Ceara tree planted a year ago in
Manila is now twenty-one feet high. Giant rubber
vines in the Philippines give an inferior rubber, but
yield large amounts.
The Forestry Bureau of the Philippines is fully
alive to the importance and value of both gutta-
percha and rubber and is making explorations, inves-
tigations and experiments along these lines, as well
as observing with care the results thus far obtained
in the adjacent territory both by the English and
Dutch governments, and it is safe to assume that
the time is not far distant when these forest products
will contribute an important sum to the exports of
the Philippines. Of course it is a well-understood
fact in economics that whatever be the develop-
ments in one industry it contributes to the develop-
ment of others, and in looking over the Philippines
it should be remembered that all these openings
mutually react upon each other, and their effects will
be cumulative, inviting immigration, creating a de-
mand for labor, stimulating new wants among the
natives, and thus enriching and enlightening the
native population, as well as rendering good returns
to those who intelligently devote themselves to the
building up of business.

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

CHAPTER IV
SHELL AND PEABL FISHING
T HE NEW possessions of the United States in
the Orient reach down to within five degrees of
the equator, where, scattered over a tropic sea, as
though sown from the hand of a creative giant is
found the Jolo Archipelago, extending through some
two degrees of longitude and one and a half degrees
of latitude, with a general trend of northeast and
southwest. Here is a point where extremes meet.
Free Americans find slavery recognized as a part of
the social system. The missionaries of the latest
Protestant faith find followers of the false prophet
making treaties in the sacred language of the Koran,
and American school teachers gather their pupils
from the harems of sultans and dattos.
Nature is prodigal of her gifts in the tropics and
in far-off Jolo not only does the soil produce food
for man but the sea teems with life and the shallow
waters give rich treasures to the fisherman.
The pearl and shell fisheries of the Jolo Archi-
pelago are but little known to the world at large,
and to a very restricted degree to commerce, yet
upon the authority of expert testimony they rank,
so far as quality of product and possibility of devel-
opment is concerned, with the famous ancient

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

grounds of Ceylon and the Persian Gulf and the
more modern areas of Australia and Torres Strait.
The fishing grounds of the Jolo Archipelago are
credited with contributing to-day the greatest num-
ber of the finest round pearls that find their way
into the channels of commerce.
The Sultan of Jolo, Hadji Mohamad Jamalul
Kiram, claims jurisdiction over the Archipelago from
the strait south of Mindanao to Borneo and from an
indefinite line in the China Sea west of Palawan to
another indefinite line east of the chain of islands
including Basilan, Jolo, Siassi and Tawi Tawi.
According to the unwritten law of the Moros, he
owns everything on the land and in the waters of the
sea, and title is held by the subject simply at the
will of the Sultan. He therefore claims ownership
to all shells and pearls in the waters of the Archi-
pelago. This claim is recognized by the Moros, who
pay for the privilege of fishing by giving or selling
to the Sultan all pearls of a certain size or value at a
nominal price.
The pearls themselves are simply a side issue, or
rather a by-product, the pearl oyster shell, the mother
of pearl of commerce, being the principal object of
the fisherman's quest. These shells weigh from one
to eight pounds per pair, some of them being as
large as dinner-plates and almost round. They are
shipped in large quantities to Singapore and London.
Nearly the entire business connected with the pearl
46

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

fishing industry, like so much of the business of the
Philippines is to a great extent in the hands of
Chinamen, who pay the natives from forty to sixty
cents, Mexican, per pound for the shells, and it is
estimated that only from one-half to one percent of
the shells contain pearls.
The pearl-bearing oyster is found scattered
throughout the Archipelago in water of from one
fathom to beyond working depth. The native
method of fishing is crude and is followed very irreg-
ularly, for a lucky haul of shells will enable a native
to lie idle for weeks, and he only resumes work when
compelled by the pangs of hunger. There are two
companies, however, one English and one Chinese,
with headquarters at Jolo, which pursue the business
in a systematic manner. They employ boats suited
to the business, and equip their divers with diving
suits and all the modem appliances of deep-sea ex-
ploration and conduct their affairs in such a manner
that the returns of the business have been satisfac-
tory to those interested therein.
Besides mother of pearl shells, black shells and
snail shells are found in shipping quantities. The
black shell is smaller than the mother of pearl shell
and is almost as valuable, and like the snail shell, is
used in the manufacture of pearl buttons and other
small ornaments. The present volume of business
may be estimated from the fact that during the first
ten months of the year 1890 the custom-house at
47

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

Jolo showed shipments of 222,814 pounds of mother
of pearl shells, valued at $75,712; there were ex-
ported also 1114 pounds of black shells, valued at
$440, and 17,701 pounds of snail shells, valued at
$5609. About the same amount was also shipped
from the port of Siassi. This would make the value
of the annual shipments from these two ports about
$200,000. This sum it should be understood is for
the shells alone without taking into account the
value of the pearls found therein.
The Chinese and English companies already men-
tioned pay a certain sum to the Sultan for the privi-
lege of fishing, and that the business is considered a
safe and profitable one may be assumed from the fact
that the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and
China, and the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking
Corporation have extensive interests in the business.
American officers stationed at Jolo, who are now
somewhat acquainted with the industry and its pos-
sible development, recommend that on account of
the undoubted value, the great extent and future
productiveness of these fisheries, some intelligent
legislation be enacted on the part of the government
in relation to this subject, but owing to the more
pressing demands in other quarters this has not yet
been done.
The conditions essential to the most perfect de-
velopment of the mother of pearl and the pearl-
bearing mollusk, are a reefy bottom, near mud, and
48

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

especially where there is a luxurious supply of sub-
marine vegetation, coral cups, and another beautiful
coral growth resembling "coach whips" four or five
feet in length. Sweeping tides and an abundance
of living reefs are particularly favorable to the
growth of this beautiful iridescent mollusk.
These conditions exist to perfection in the waters
of the Jolo Archipelago, where the pearl fishing is
now carried on to a limited extent and also along the
coasts of Palawan or Paragua, as it is also called, as
well as along the Mindanao shores of the Jolo and
Celebes seas. It is estimated that the area suited
to the growth and propagation of the pearl oyster
covers approximately 15,000 square miles, an area
large enough to furnish a supply of mother of pearl
more than sufficient to meet the present demand of
the entire world, and the imagination only can pic-
ture the number, beauty and value of the beautiful
pearls "of purest ray serene" that await discovery
in the warm waters of these eastern possessions.
In making a more detailed description it may be
said that the Jolo Archipelago embraces four prin-
cipal groups of islands superimposed upon or sur-
rounded by extensive coral formations in banks or
reefs, as are so generally observed in the physical
structure of tropical islands. They are Balanguingui,
Jolo, Tapul and Tawi Tawi, including in all more
than one hundred and thirty islands, many large
enough to possess some geographical importance and
49

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

others small and uninhabited, simply dots on the
surface of the sea. The Tapul group, and the Pearl
Bank at the extreme western end of the Tawi Tawi
group are particularly famous for the excellence of
their pearling grounds and the superior quality and
quantity of their output.
While most mollusks secrete mother of pearl, there
are but few that yield pearls, and the best producer
of both is the pearl oyster of the Jolo waters. The
finding of pearls, however, is as uncertain as the
finding of rich nuggets in placer mining. It has
been found that in opening over five thousand shells
not a single pearl worth $25 was encountered, and
again as many as a dozen have been found in a
single shell, and there is a story current that an
Englishman a few years ago found a shell devoid of
the oyster but containing sixty-five pearls.
There have been all sorts of theories advanced
as to the origin of the pearl. One ancient author
states that the oyster rises to receive the rain-drops,
which are afterwards converted into pearls, and this
theory obtained among the natives of the new world
at the time of Columbus, as they thought they were
formed from petrified dewdrops in connection with
sunbeams. The pearl has had a place in the material
medical of many lands, including even the United
States. The" prevailing idea, however, among scien-
tists is that the formation is caused by an effort on
the part of the oyster in which the pearl is found

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

to rid itself of an irritation caused by the presence
of some foreign body, which excited the secretion
of nacreous matter in concentric layers until the
foreign substance is encysted, much after the same
manner as the human body encysts foreign bodies
embedded therein and renders them comparatively
harmless. The experience of pearl fishers lends
weight to this theory because they find that shells
irregular in shape, stunted in growth, bearing ex-
crescences or having shell honey-combed by boring
parasites are the most likely to yield pearls.
The value of the Jolo pearl, as of all others, de-
pends upon its size, shape, color, brightness and
freedom from defects. Perfectly round pearls,
weighing over twenty-five grains, are rare and very
expensive, being chiefly employed for rich necklaces,
and as the sources of supply are widely separated
and the output from year to year is uncertain, the
prices remain comparatively stable, especially as
precious stones cannot take the place of pearls in
the estimation of the purchasers of precious orna-
ments. With the earliest use of pearls in connection
with precious and semi-precious stones with gold for
ornamentation, certain grades and qualities, and also
the symmetry, were recognized as forming the basis
of value, and these grades have been maintained with
but little variation throughout the centuries.
The Romans called the globular pearl union, the
pear-shaped elenche, the hemispherical pympania,

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

and the irregular or baroque pearl margaripum. The
Hindus also divide pearls into nine classes accord-
ing to luster, shape and size. Speaking in a general
way, the points of excellence among western nations
are: First, a pearl must be perfectly spherical, as
though it had been turned into shape in the lathe
of a lapidary; second, it should possess a pure white
color, of that peculiar pearly lustre that cannot be
imitated-in the Orient the bright yellow color is
highly esteemed; third, it should be slightly trans-
parent or translucent; fourth, it should be free from
specks, spots or blemishes; and fifth, it must possess
that peculiar lustre or "orient" that is the special
characteristic of the pearl.
Pearls are sold by the pearl grain, four grains be-
ing equal to one carat. The formula for finding the
price of a pearl, beginning at a size larger than one
grain, is to square its weight and multiply the prod-
uct by the value of a single grain. A two-grain
pearl, therefore, being worth four times, and a five-
grain pearl being worth twenty-five times, the value
of one grain.
These jewels of the sea, if jewels they may be
called, occupy an important place in the history of
precious ornaments, and there are records of some
of surpassing beauty and value, but it is doubted
whether even.the famous pearls of Cleopatra equalled
the beauty and perfection, the rarity and lustre of
a pair, weighing two hundred and twenty-seven

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

grains, exhibited at the French exhibition of 1878.
The Crown Prince of Germany gave to the Princess
Royal of England on the occasion of her marriage a
pearl necklace valued at $100,000, an ornament of
unrivalled beauty and impossible to duplicate. It
is said that the most perfect single pearl in existence
is La Pellagrina," in the Museum of Zosima at
Moscow. It is an Indian pearl perfectly globular
in form, beautifully iridescent and weighs twenty-
eight carats. The finest pearl discovered in recent
years was found off the northwest coast of Australia
in water only knee deep, in 1884. It weighs forty
grains, is absolutely round and perfect in quality.
One of the most remarkable pearl productions ever
discovered in the sea is known as the "Southern
Cross," a group of nine pearls in the form of a
Latin cross, seven composing the shaft, which meas-
ures one and a half inches in length. They all
possess fine orient" and are perfect in shape except
on the sides where joined together. This cluster
was found in the Western Australia pearl fisheries
in 1874.
In the large collection of pearls of the Sultan of
Jolo have always been many specimens rare in size,
form and lustre. A few have found their way into
the markets of London and Paris as the condition
of the royal exchequer ran low, and their excellence
may be judged by the refusal to part with them at
prices even higher than obtain in Europe.

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

Upon the death of a former Sultan in 1879, there
was found among his effects a box full of pearls of
large size and superior quality. Upon his demise,
as frequently occurs in oriental households, the con-
tents of this box disappeared, but a portion of the
contents was subsequently recovered by his son and
successor, the Sultan Buderoodin, and a few were
sold in 1882 in order to defray the expenses of his
pilgrimage to Mecca. Since that date a large num-
ber of fine pearls have found their way into the pos-
session of the reigning Sultan, who has been slow
to part with them. He is now an ally and friend of
the United States, and the Stars and Stripes float
over his dominions.
The pearl oyster shell is an important article of
commerce, its value being dependent upon the qual-
ity of its hard silvery iridescent or nacreous lining,
particularly noticeable in the Jolo product. The
varieties known to commerce are the white, the
golden-edged and the black-edged shells. The
market value of the mother of pearl shell at average
prices is from $300 to $900 per ton, according to
quality and the source of production, the Jolo shells
ranking highest in the market.
The chief sources of the present supply are Torres
Strait, Western Australia and the Jolo Archipelago.
Until 1886, Manila was the great center of this trade
in the Orient, and the entire product of the sur-
rounding seas became known to commerce as Manila

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHIIPPINES

shells, but the short-sighted policy of Spain in deal-
ing with her insular possessions forced the transfer
of this entire traffic to the British port of Singapore.
The present mother-of-pearl trade of the United
States is in an unfortunate and abnormal condition
because the raw material, the pearl oyster shell, a
product of United States territory, passes first into
British or Chinese hands through Singapore and from
thence to London, whence it is shipped to the United
States to be worked up in American factories. It
is needless to say that this condition of affairs should
not be allowed to continue, nor is the industry one
of little importance. The importations of shells
into the United States in 1898 were valued at $906,-
852, in 1899 at $973,944, and in 1900 at $1,019,730,
so that it is a business that is showing a healthy
normal growth, and is one in which this country
promises to lead the world, as may be seen from
the following somewhat antiquated statistics, but
the latest available on the subject. The exports of
mother-of-pearl shells from the leading sources of
supply to Great Britain were as follows:

The Persian Gulf fisheries, which yielded $641,-
000 worth in 1888, more than trebled their output
in 1899, and as these grounds are known to have
been fished over for more than two thousand years,
they prove beyond a doubt that this valuable marine
product can be produced indefinitely by proper super-
vision and the protection of the sources of propaga-
tion and supply.
The same care bestowed upon the pearl oyster
grounds of the Philippines that is now given to the
oyster beds of the Chesapeake Bay would no doubt
be attention wisely bestowed, and the United States
Fish Commission has no more interesting problem
before it than to apply the experience gained from
the waters of other lands to the protection and de-
velopment of the beautiful bivalve of the Philippines.
It is scarcely necessary to mention the many
branches of artistic handicraft in which the beautiful
mother-of-pearl of the Jolo seas are utilized. It
vies in radiant beauty with the delicate lace, the
brilliant plumage, and sheeny silk employed in the
manufacture of ladies' fans, lending added charms to
flashing eyes that welcome or repel in social circles.
It lends its inimitable lustre to costly card-cases, it
is a favorite handle for the finest penknives, and is
worked into a hundred fancy articles for use and
beauty, but its most general use is in the manufac-
ture of buttons. For centuries the Chinese have
excelled as engravers of mother-of-pearl and fine
56

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

specimens. of their skill rank high as real works of
art. In the city of Manila, and also in other places
in the Archipelago, the verandas of the better class
of houses are often enclosed with a latticework filled
in with mother-of-pearl, and its effect is more delicate
and pleasing than the more brilliant effects produced
by cathedral glass.
It now remains for the American merchant to
divert the trade to Manila or direct to the United
States, and for the American citizen to find new
uses for this most beautiful product of the tropic
seas.

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

CHAPTER V
MINERAL RESOURCES OF THE PHILIPPINES
THE EXTENSIVE application of coal in the
arts and industries is so familiar that it is
difficult to realize that while the discovery of this
important mineral is very ancient, yet its use is
comparatively modern; in fact, its general applica-
tion may be said to belong to the present day.
The coal deposits of the Philippines were first
discovered in 1827 on the island of Cebu and, as
stated by the engineer Abella, "did not succeed in
inspiring any interest in the State, nor in private
individuals, until the journeys of the first steamships
to the Islands when the government issued, in 1842,
a timely circular to the provincial authorities re-
questing them to furnish information regarding the
coal deposits that might be in their respective
localities."
The replies received in response to this circular
are both curious and interesting. The mayor of
Zambales reported that in the time of great freshets
some pieces of black rocks that burn are accustomed
to be seen in the Bafiganbacao River of Botolan,
but that he had not been able to secure any of them
"because none have been seen during the present
year." Practically nothing was done for a number
58

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

of years to develop the coal deposits, or indeed to
outline the extent of the coal regions known to
exist, and the efforts of the local authorities were
directed to securing from the supreme government
a positive decree compelling the local navy to use
Philippine coal and preventing the importation of
English coal by levying prohibitive import duties.
Coal has been found generally distributed through-
out the Philippine Islands, and between the years
1868 and 1899 one hundred and thirty-five entries
were filed for coal-mining claims, situated in nearly
every important island of the Archipelago. Mr.
George F. Becker, United States Geologist, in treat-
ing of the island of Luzon, reports: "In fact deposits
of coal are distributed from the northern end of
Luzon to the southeastern extremity. Of many of
these occurrences nothing more is known than that
lignite has been found. The vegetation is so luxuri-
ant that in many cases it is something of a task to
ascertain anything more definite. The best deposits
known appear to be in the extreme southern end
of Luzon and on small adjacent. islands. Here the
quality is good and the thickness of the beds reaches
nearly fifteen feet. The outcrop is near the shore,
and it is here that the insurgents supplied their
steamers with fuel."
At various distances from Laguna de Bay, in the
provinces of Laguna and Morong, are also many
known beds of lignite, some of them of sufficient

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

size and convenience to render them profitable for
development as soon as the necessary roads and
bridges can be supplied for the purposes of trans-
portation.
Lieutenant Charles H. Burritt, the officer in charge
of the Philippine Mining Bureau, reports coal in
that region both good in quality and extensive in
quantity, and he furthermore expresses the opinion
that the coal wealth of the Islands surpasses that of
all the other minerals that may be discovered in the
Archipelago. The importance of this supply of fuel
to the Islands can scarcely be overestimated, as it
must be the foundation on which will be constructed
the future manufacturing industries of the people,
who manifest no little ability in working up into
useful forms the raw material at their hands.
The past history of coal mining by the Spaniards
is a long record of ignorance, avarice and mistakes.
They attempted to mine coal as though it were a
precious metal, and indeed it became so in some
instances when measured by the cost of production.
The facilities for bringing it to the surface were
entirely inadequate for a profitable amount of pro-
duction, and transportation, which in many instances
seemed to be an afterthought, was so ill adapted that
no one ever made a financial success of coal mining.
The labor question has also been an obstacle to the
proper development of the mines.
Chemical analyses of Philippine coals from differ-
60

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

ent regions and actual tests under the boilers of
Spanish war vessels have demonstrated that their
combustible and steam-producing capacity make
them valuable and capable of taking the place of
imported coals for many practical purposes. At one
time the government was so impressed with the value
of this industry that it was for a long time a monopoly
in which the government was interested, but as a
business venture it was not a success.
On the whole, the coal deposits offer opportunities
for investment which may well invite thorough in-
vestigation, and should they be developed on an
extensive scale will soon solve the fuel and power
question, which at present is one of the serious prob-
lems which the Islands must face.
On the island of Cebu, petroleum has been found
associated with coal at Toledo on the west coast and
from Algeria to the south. Natural gas is also said
to exist in the Cebu coal fields, but both of these
products must be classed as speculative in the absence
of more positive information, and their probable
existence only adds to the general interest in that
island. Petroleum highly charged with paraffin is
also found on the island of Leyte, and reports of
the existence of oil have been received from Panay,
in the province of Iloilo, but it will take future
operations of the drill to determine the extent and
commercial value of these deposits.
The magic word gold is often used in connection
61

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

with the Philippines, and should rich deposits be
discovered the pacification of the insurgent districts
and the immigration of an American population
would soon be accomplished without any special
legislation on the part of the government. Men who
conquered the difficulties of the Chilkoot Pass and
braved the rigors of a dark winter under the Arctic
circle, men who have forced wealth from the Rand
in South Africa, and the sons of those who crossed
the American continent in '49, lured by the power
of gold, and have since built up in the west a score
of noble States, would soon put an end to the present
troubles and lay the foundation of a higher civiliza-
tion.
Gold is found in a great number of localities in
the Archipelago from northern Luzon to central
Mindanao. In most instances it has been discovered
in existing water courses or in stream deposits that
have been deserted by the currents. It is reported
that in Mindanao some of these auriferous gravels
are in elevated positions which would admit of hy-
draulic mining, and there is an abundance of water,
making such methods practical. The primitive
method hitherto employed by the natives consists
in washing the gravel in little dishes made of cocoa-
nut shells, and there are no data obtainable that
would indicate the extent or richness of these players.
In the province of Abra, at the northern end of
Luzon, there are players that have been worked in
62

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

a haphazard sort of a way for a long time, and the
gravel of the river Abra is also auriferous. In
Lepanto, gold quartz veins as well as gold-bearing
gravel are known to exist, and both are situated in
the vicinity of copper mines in the same district.
In Benguet, in the highlands of north-central Luzon,
the gravel shoals of the river Agno carry gold, and
gold is found also in the province of Bontoc and
Nueva Ecija. The most important of the auriferous
provinces is Camarines Norte, where at Mambulao,
Paracale and Labo, a German geologist about thirty
years ago reported that seven hundred natives were
at work on the rich quartz veins of that region at the
time of his visit. At Paracale there are parallel quartz
veins in granite, one of which is twenty feet wide,
in which the "pay streak" is said to assay thirty-
eight ounces to the ton, but it would not be safe
to assume this as an average sample.
Mindanao is known to possess two gold-bearing
districts, one in the province of Surigao and the
other in Misamis. These two districts are in two
distinct river systems, separated by high lands, and
the imagination cannot but trace these fluvial de-
posits to their home in the mountains. Near the
settlement of Imponan and on the Gulf of Macajalar
are reported many square miles of gravel carrying
gold associated with platinum. Some years ago with
cocoanut shells the natives are said to have extracted

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

one hundred and fifty ounces per month of the
precious metal.
Among the troops first sent to the Philippines were
a number of regiments from the mining States of the
west. These men were accustomed to prospecting
at home and were as good at finding color" in the
pan as "hiking" after the enemy or rushing insur-
gent entrenchments. They were alert, of course,
for signs of gold and frequently reported to their
officers that they had found unmistakable evidence
of the presence of gold, and many of them, instead
of returning with their regiments to the United
States, remained in the Philippines for the purpose
of taking up and developing mining claims as soon
as legislation should be enacted that would allow
them to secure title to their discoveries.
Some skepticism has been expressed as to the gold
future of the Islands in view of the fact that the
Spaniards, known to be expert miners, occupied the
country for three hundred years, and it is asserted
that, had there been gold deposits, they would have
located them. While there may be something in
this statement, it must be remembered that the
Mexicans and Spaniards were in California for a long
time, and a few days after the signing of the treaty
of Guadalupe Hidalgo, by which California was
transferred to the United States, gold was discovered
and the country poured out a golden wealth to
the enrichment of the world. The Spaniards have
64

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

been miners of silver, rather than gold, and their
lack of activity in the Philippines should not be
taken as conclusive evidence that there is no mineral
wealth in that region.
Copper ores are reported in a number of the Philip-
pine Islands, viz.: Luzon, Mindoro, Capul, Masbate,
Panay and Mindanao. No successful attempts have
been made to work the deposits in any of the Islands
except Luzon. In the region about Mount Data, a
peak some 2500 meters in height, in the province of
Lepanto, copper ore has been smelted by the natives
from time immemorial, even before the discovery of
the Islands by Magellan. The somewhat compli-
cated process employed is thought to have been
introduced from China or Japan, for it is almost
certain that the natives did not possess the degree
of intelligence necessary to have invented the
method. It is practiced chiefly by the Igarrotes,
who form a peculiar tribe, remarkable in many ways.
This entire district, judging both from known facts
and rumors not yet verified, concerning its mineral
resources, is worthy of a thorough scientific investi-
gation.
A lead mine has been partially developed near the
town of Cebu, on the island of the same name, and
on the small island of Marinduque there is said to
be a deposit of argentiferous galena containing
ninety-six grams of silver, six grains of gold and
565.5 kilograms of lead per metric ton.

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

Iron ore is abundant in many of the Islands both
in the north and south and at Bulacan there is a
small industry where wrought iron is produced and
manufactured into rude plowshares. The abundance
of timber throughout the Archipelago would seem
to indicate that charcoal pig iron might be profitably
produced, though it is a question as to whether the
lignites of the Philippines would be suitable for use
in blast furnaces.
Sulphur is abundant about both the active and
extinct volcanoes, of which there is a great number.
Marble of fine quality also exists and has been quar-
ried to some extent, while alabaster is found in
Camarines Sur. The great island of Mindanao, with
extensive river systems penetrating far into the in-
terior, and great mountain systems dividing them
from each other, is practically unexplored, and the
auriferous nature of many of the fluvial deposits are
such that when the country becomes pacified and a
better understanding is established with the Moro
tribes in the interior, there is no doubt that its
mineral resources will be thoroughly investigated,
something the Spaniards never accomplished during
their long residence in the archipelago.

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

CHAPTER VI
MANILA HEMP
H EMP, or abaed, as it is called in the Philippine
Islands, is the most valuable product of the
Archipelago, measured by the amount of the annual
exports. In 1900, over $13,000,000 worth was ex-
ported, while copra to the value of $3,000,000 was
the next most important article of export. All ex-
perience in the Islands both prior to and subsequent
to American occupation awards to hemp-growing the
first place among agricultural enterprises.
Hemp is the fibre of a wild species of the plantain
or banana plant, Musa textilis, found in many parts
of the Philippines. It bears no edible fruit, yet it
takes a connoisseur to distinguish between it and some
of the fruit-bearing varieties. Although the plant
requires a considerable amount of moisture, it will not
thrive on swampy land, its favorite habitat being well-
watered slopes where the drainage is good, and, like
coffee, it must be well shaded by other trees to
protect it from the sun's rays. Richness of soil
does not seem to be essential to its proper develop-
ment, as it is sometimes found growing on the slopes
of volcanic formation that have not yet been suffi-
ciently disintegrated to make good soil for the pro-
duction of other crops. The plant attains a height
67

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINEB

of about ten feet and is endogenous, with the stem
enclosed in layers of half-round petioles, which pro-
duce the fibre. It is very generally distributed over
the islands of the Archipelago, and it is strange that
it has not been successfully cultivated in other lands
where similar physical conditions obtain. It is
thought by those who have given some attention to
the subject, that the failure to transport the industry
to other countries eager to share in the gains derived
from this rich product is owing not so much to the
non-adaptability of the plant as to the fact that the
successful treatment of the fibre is peculiar to the
natives of the Philippines, an art acquired through
long years of practice.
There are few crops less exposed to accident than
hemp. Dry weather might parch the plant, but
with rainy seasons, as regular as the tides, this risk
is small indeed. Insects, which are the curse of so
many other crops, do not trouble the hemp plant, and
it bends before the storms that would lay waste
fields planted with a more brittle growth.
Land suitable for hemp-growing is in the market,
though the whole question of land titles in the
Philippines is not in as good condition as it should
be in order to stimulate the proper development of
the country. The description of boundaries, the
history of transfers, the records of the different prov-
inces, and even the original grant, are all in con-
fusion and fruitful of interminable litigation, which
68

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINEB

ought to be regulated by some general legislation.
The landholders, after the custom of their fellows in
more civilized countries, always ask more than they
expect to receive for their property, but good fresh
soil, favorably located, ought to be purchased for
ten dollars per acre. Choice plantations already
producing fibre would not be considered particularly
cheap at fifteen dollars per acre, and it is affirmed
that land adapted to the cultivation of hemp can
be purchased in some of the southern islands at from
one to two dollars per acre. The question of trans-
portation must always be taken into consideration
for the crop is both bulky and heavy, and owing to
the absence of roads, if there is no natural waterway
along which the fibre can be taken to tidewater and
embarked on a coasting vessel, its value is simply
nominal. This of course in time will in many places
be remedied, but investments cannot await the some-
what deliberate methods of tropical road-building.
Apart from the original cost of the land, which
would vary according to quality, convenience to
market, and its ability to attract the necessary help,
calculation should be made for the original planting,
and it is estimated that seven hundred plants can be
grown on a single acre. A plantation would, further-
more, need storehouses, sheds, a baling press and the
usual farm outfit, though the plants themselves re-
quire but little cultivation after they are once fairly
started. The cost of planting occurs but once, for

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

new shoots spring from the roots of the mature
plant when cut down, though it takes about three
years for a plant to reach maturity.
In order to extract the fibre, the leaf stems are
separated and allowed to wilt for a short time in
the sun. They are then separated into strips, five
or six inches in width and drawn under a knife
attached at one end by a hinge to a block of wood,
while the other end is suspended to the extremity
of a flexible pole or stick. This forms a sort of a
bow and tends to raise the knife, and by means of
a cord attached both to the knife end and to a foot
treadle the pressure can be regulated and adapted to
the piece being treated, at the will of the operator.
Each piece is drawn between the block of wood and
the knife for the purpose of scraping the pulp from
the fibre, which is wound around a stick as fast as
drawn from under the knife. The pulp is useless.
The fibre as soon as separated from the pulp is
exposed to the sun for at least five hours, after which
it is ready for baling. The entire process is very
simple, and the machinery crude and non-expensive.
Most of the presses employed are run by hand power
and the regulation bale weighs two hundred and
forty pounds.
A finer fibre is at times obtained from specially
selected edges of the petiole, and this is used by the
natives for weaving a cloth peculiar to the country;
the quantity, however, is at present limited and its
70

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

commercial value is about double that of ordinary
first-class cordage hemp.
About thirty percent of the fibre is lost by the
present method of extraction, a waste that ought not
to continue, and that will doubtless be remedied
when American inventive genius takes up the ques-
tion of an improved practical method of extracting
the fibre. Many attempts have been made to draw
the fibre by machinery, but notwithstanding the
efforts put forth, no inventor has yet succeeded in
producing a satisfactory machine. A Spanish in-
ventor perfected a complicated machine that would
do the work, but it possessed the fatal defect that its
output was but little, if any, greater than the present
method of hand extraction. The fibre appears to
be very susceptible to discoloration while damp with
the juices of the plant, and unless its white color is
maintained it loses value in the market.
A fortune awaits the lucky inventor who will suc-
ceed in producing in an economical manner a greater
percent of the fibre without injury to its strength
and without discoloration. It is not too much to
assume that a people who have invented machines
to plant, cultivate, harvest, and prepare the varied
crops of the North American continent, and of such
pronounced superiority that the whole world is eager
to buy or imitate them, will be able to solve many of
the present problems connected with the hemp in-
dustry of the Philippine Islands.
71

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

The greatest difficulty with which an American
hemp-grower would at present have to contend is the
indolence of the native laborers on whom he must
depend. Nature is so prodigal of her gifts in the
tropics, and the actual necessities of life are so few,
that the half-clad, rice-eating native cannot under-
stand why he should toil every day in the week when
a few days of labor will supply all of his wants for a
month. In time this situation will be overcome in
a measure by the creation of new wants.
The Filipino, when permitted to exercise his own
choice in the matter, cuts the plant at any time after
maturity. When hard pressed for cash he strips a
few petioles and leaves them for days exposed to the
action of the weather in order that the fibre may be
extracted from the pulp with less labor. This method
both weakens the fibre and discolors the hemp. He
also works into the mass a certain amount of dried
sap in order to give increased weight to the bundle
he presents for sale. There are also many other
tricks of the trade against which the purchaser must
be constantly on guard.
The larger producers and dealers use every effort
to grow, elaborate and ship fibre that is fine in qual-
ity, perfectly clean and white, and that at all stages
of its preparation has received proper treatment.
Two reasons induce them to take these precautions.
They have a natural and laudable desire to maintain
the deserved reputation of the Manila hemp, and then
72

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

the price paid for the first quality is so much higher
than for the lower grades that it is to their financial
interest to market the best that can be secured.
The hemp industry has been constantly increasing
in importance and volume save when interrupted by
war. In 1872 the shipments amounted to 40,000
tons; in 1880 that amount had increased to 50,000
tons; in 1890, 63,000 tons were exported; and in
1897, the last year before the war, the total amount
was 109,000 tons.
Another of the serious problems that must be
met by the hemp-grower, and this holds true equally
of any industry undertaken in the Philippines, is
that the natives will not work without being paid
in advance, and they are distressingly indifferent
about liquidating accounts after the money has been
received and expended. For this reason it often
occurs that capital which might be employed to ad-
vantage is withheld from investment, and the natives
complain that there is no money to grow or move
the crops. It will not be an easy matter to change
this custom, and yet a reform in this direction must
be wrought before either the planter or laborer can
hope to secure the best possible results from this
industry. The public schools that have been estab-
lished, with the broadening of vision that ought to
characterize the next generation should contribute
something to this reform, and as a last resort, in
case native labor cannot be secured, the importation
73

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

of other cheap labor, that is now being urged in
many quarters, will supply hands for the field and
factory.
The hemp fibre is widely distributed over the
world, the United States and the United Kingdom
taking the greater part of the product. They in
turn work it up into cordage and send it abroad to
all places where ships are fitted out or in the form
of binding twine wherever wheat is grown. The
95,738 tons shipped from the port of Manila in 1896
were distributed as follows:
Country. Piculs (133 b.) LongTons.
United Kingdom.............. 815,044 50,940
United States .................. 615,554 38,473
China and Japan............... 49,494 3,093
Australia..................... 33,892 2,118
Singapore .................... 12,166 760
Europe ........................ 5,660 854

Of the 940,000 bales exported in 1897, 486 reached
the United States, part of it through the United
Kingdom, while for the seven months ending July,
1901, the United States took $1,402,000 worth of
hemp and the United Kingdom is credited with
having taken $7,206,000.
There is at present an export tax amounting to
seventy-five cents per hundred kilos charged on all
hemp exported from the Philippines, but in a bill
passed by the Congress of the United States and
approved March 8, 1902, provision is made that:

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

"All articles, the growth and product of the Philippine
Islands, admitted into the ports of the United States free of
duty under the provisions of this Act and coming directly
from said Islands to the United States for use and consump-
tion therein, shall be hereafter exempt from any export duties
imposed in the Philippine Islands."
The effect of this provision will be that hemp
exported to Europe or any other country except the
United States will be subject to the export tax above
mentioned, while that exported direct to the United
States will be exempt from said tax. This will give
the American dealer a decided advantage in the
hemp trade, and American cordage works ought to
be able to make binding twine for the Argentine,
and all other wheat-producing countries at prices
that will compete with those offered by any other
country. This very fact will have a tendency to
direct Americans to the hemp-growing industry, and
important developments may be expected in the
near future.
Hemp, unlike other tropical crops, is not suffering
from the effects of an overstocked market, low prices,
nor will it have to compete with any similar product
of the temperate zone. Sugar, for example, is hav-
ing a great struggle for continued existence, as the
beet sugar production of the temperate zone has
crowded down the price of the cane sugar of the
tropics until the margin of profit has almost, if not
quite, reached the vanishing point. Coffee, also,
while not compelled to compete with any like pro-
75

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

duct, is so generally distributed throughout the
world and its cultivation is capable of so much ex-
tension that handsome profits can be realized only
by certain favored regions which produce fine grades
and which are able to command fancy prices. Manila
hemp, however, has no competitor and the demand,
which is a growing one, far exceeds the supply.
The present market could readily absorb twice the
amount that finds its way to the factory.
While as stated, Manila hemp has no successful
competitor, its high price and limited quantity have
'obliged manufacturers to search the world over for
substitutes. New Zealand hemp is employed in some
branches of manufacturing in place of the Manila
variety, and the same may be said of a certain class
of hemp grown on the island of Mauritius. Sisal,
East India and Russian hemps, while quite distinct
from the real hemp of Manila, have been used for it
to some extent, but they must give way to the long,
strong, white fibre when the supply becomes equal
to the demand.
As has been indicated, the hemp plant is very
generally distributed throughout the Archipelago,
the best quality being produced in the volcanic and
rainy districts of Camaraines Sur, Albay, Samar,
Leyte, Marinduque, Cebu and in some of the small
neighboring islands, as well as in the south of Negros
and Mindanao. This product during the late war
became like cotton in the South during the war be-
76

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINe

tween the States, contraband of war, and certain
hemp ports were closed so that the insurgents could
not dispose of their crops and thereby secure means
to purchase supplies with which to carry on the
struggle against the sovereignty of the United States.
It is a striking coincidence that the cotton fibre and
the hemp fibre should have figured so extensively in
two wars waged by the United States, and, as in the
case of cotton, the final result was a wonderful de-
velopment in the growth and manufacture of that
staple, so in the case of hemp, when the Islands
again devote their energies to peaceful pursuits, the
hemp industry will take on an importance hitherto
unknown and will contribute to the wealth and well
being of this entire section of the United States.

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

CHAPTER VII
AGRICULTURE
AS THE Philippine Archipelago lies between the
fifth and twenty-first degrees of north latitude,
with a great range of elevation and variety in the
composition of its soils, it necessarily presents
marked variations in its vegetation, both in the
forest and in the cultivated field. A crop report
if in any way complete would contain many sub-
stances entirely unknown to the more temperate
zones of the United States. In general the flora is
tropical, while in the southern part it becomes equa-
torial. There are marked differences in vegetation
also between that produced on the Pacific coast and
that of the China Sea. In the former region the
rains are more abundant than in the latter, which,
being covered with compact mountain ranges, has a
more limited agricultural zone.
Next to hemp, which has been treated in a former
chapter, rice is perhaps the most important crop
raised in the Islands, constituting as it does the
staple and almost exclusive food of the natives, and
indeed of most of the poor people of the entire
Orient, there being no limit to the demand. Like
wheat and corn, there are a great number of varie-
ties, some suited to one region or manner of cultiva-
78

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

tion and others best adapted to other conditions.
A collection of one hundred and twenty varieties
exhibited by Seflor Garcia at the Paris Exposition
in 1878 received the only gold medal awarded by the
judges to Philippine exhibitors. Two main classes
are generally recognized owing to the manner of
their respective methods of cultivation: the first are
those varieties cultivated on low irrigated lands, and
the second are those cultivated on the uplands with-
out irrigation. The class locally known as mimis
is highly esteemed on account of its white trans-
parent grain and exquisite flavor.
The growing of rice is one of the few occupations
which the natives pursue with extreme care, though
the crude appliances hitherto employed do not per-
mit great profits to accrue to the cultivator. The
Philippines, like most oriental countries, have pur-
sued the policy that human labor is cheaper than
machinery, and therefore almost everything is done
by hand. In rice cultivation the land is divided
into small rectangular parcels with.little ridges
thrown up around them, which serve to retain the
water used in irrigation. The grain is first sown
by hand in beds specially prepared, and while sprout-
ing the fields are worked into a soft mud by the
water buffalo (carabao) and when the plant is a few
inches high it is transplanted by hand-imagine an
American farmer planting ten acres of sprouted
wheat by hand-and then requires no further care
79

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

until harvest time, when the grain is gathered with
the aid of a little sickle, that will cut but a few
stalks at a time. The grain is separated from the
straw by tramping it out with the carabao, and the
hull or chaff is removed by pounding it with a heavy
wooden pestle in a rude wooden mortar, and win-
nowed by tossing it in the wind. Were it not that
so many people are engaged in the production of
this grain, and that the entire family-men, women
and children-aid in the various processes, it would
be impossible for the Islands to raise even the quan-
tity that is at present produced.
Rice has many enemies, the most formidable being
the locust, which sometimes totally destroys the
crop, causing great suffering among the poor. An
insect also at times attacks the tender grain while
growing, sucking out the juice or milk and leaving
nothing but the husk. In certain regions, also, con-
stant warfare must be made by the farmer against
the ravages of birds and monkeys, both having a
fondness for rice.
In former years large quantities of this grain
were raised for export, but in recent years, owing to
the increased production in Cochin China, large
amounts have been imported in order to supply the
local demand, and lands formerly devoted to rice
culture have been given over to the more profitable
cultivation of sugar cane. With rice machinery,
such as is now employed in the United States, ap-
so

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

plied to the production of this crop in the Philip-
pines, the production will no doubt be greatly in-
creased, and the cost of production will be so reduced
that there will be a good margin of profit to the
farmer.
Sugar cane, like rice, is classified with the grasses
by botanists, and in the Philippines is an agricul-
tural product of great importance, and now that the
Islands belong to the United States and have already
been granted a reduction of twenty-five percent on
the present United States tariff rates, with good
prospects of the complete abolition of all duties, as
has been the case with Hawaii and Porto Rico, the
great sugar market of the United States, now con-
suming two and a quarter million tons annually,
will undoubtedly stimulate the sugar industry of the
Philippines.
The present sugar-producing regions are the prov-
inces of Pampanga and the island of Negros, and on
a smaller scale cane is raised also in Laguna, Bataan,
Batangas, Iloilo, Cebu, Cavite, Pangasinan, Capiz,
Antique and Mindanao. The cultivation at present
is carried on with but little care and intelligence,
and therefore the quantity and quality of the crop
has been declining for some time. There is not a
modern sugar-producing plant in the Archipelago.
The quality of the cane has deteriorated, and the
methods of extracting the juice from such cane as
is grown is faulty and wasteful, as is also the after-
81

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

treatment of the juice. Under American control,
with the agricultural schools and experimental farms
which have now been established, and with the in-
troduction of improved machinery, the industry will
take on new life and activity. In Hawaii the best
sugar lands are valued at from $800 to $1000 per
acre, and under intelligent direction and with the im-
proved processes now known and employed in other
lands, the good sugar lands of the Philippines ought
to become equally valuable provided that its sugar
is granted free entry into the United States.
It is impossible from the data obtainable to state
how much of the territory of the Philippines is
suited to cane cultivation, but that it far exceeds the
sugar area of Hawaii or Porto Rico can be affirmed
with safety, and it may approach the present sugar
area of Cuba, which is now producing almost
1,000,000 tons per year.
Tobacco was introduced into the Philippines by
missionaries during the last quarter of the sixteenth
century, the seed having been brought from Mexico.
There are a number bf varieties of the nicotine
family, but the growers in the Philippines pay but
little attention to botanical or scientific classifica-
tions and more to the form and utility of the plant,
dividing it into two general classes, the wide-leafed
and the narrow-leafed varieties.
The qualities which determine the price of tobacco
are combustibility, strength, aroma, fineness, elas-
88

OpPOrTNITIEs IN THE PHILIPPINEs

ticity, color and uniformity. The Philippine tobacco
until recently was considered the second best in the
world, being surpassed only by the finest Havana or
Cuban leaf. Its agreeable aroma, fine veins and
notable elasticity were highly prized, but during the
past few years it has lost something of its former
reputation. It has suffered like all other natural
resources of the Archipelago by that lack of care
and attention which seems to have marked every
colonial interest of Spain, and by the utter indiffer-
ence on the part of the government to the building
up and improvement of native industries.
There is, however, much first-class tobacco raised
in the Islands, and the choice cigars from Manila,
both for aroma, bouquet, and excellence of manu-
facture will compete in any market with the best
products of the Havana factories. The leaf from
the province of Isabela de Cagayan is considered the
finest, comparing favorably with the product of the
Vuelta Abajo district of Cuba; that from the Visayan
Islands is coarser, more unequal in color and stronger
in taste; that produced in the province of Nueva
Ecija is fine, but rather bitter in flavor and yellow
in color; the tobacco from Union and Ilocos is heavy
and lacks combustibility.
A large amount of the native product is con-
sumed at home, as smoking is almost a universal
habit among both sexes. Spain formerly took the
greater part of the leaf tobacco exported, as the

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

tobacco industry was a government monopoly, while
China and Singapore took about seventy percent of
the manufactured stock. The sale of Philippine
cigars in the United States has greatly increased
since American occupation; indeed it may be said to
have commenced since that date, and the entire
tobacco industry, both as to the cultivation and
harvesting of the leaf and its manufacture and dis-
tribution, will be stimulated by the changed political
relations of the Islands. The intelligent selection
of seed, careful cultivation, fertilization when neces-
sary, and the proper care of the leaf will restore the
former enviable reputation of the Philippine tobacco
and contribute to the wealth of the Islands. There
is no doubt that the conditions of soil and climate
are favorable to the production of the finest qualities,
and nature having done her part, it remains for
science to take advantage thereof. Tobacco dealers
in the Philippines have the advantage of being so
situated that China and other places in the Orient
will absorb all the low-grade goods they can produce,
while the United States affords a market for all the
finer export cigars that may be manufactured.
The cultivation of coffee has been carried on in
the Philippines for more than a century. It was
first planted in the province of Laguna, and the
same sad story of neglect and deterioration that
has been told as to other products of the Islands
must be recorded with reference to it. Coffee has
84

OPPORo NITIE IN THE PHILIPPINES

suffered from lack of proper transportation facili-
ties, for competition in all crops is now so active
that none of them can overcome high freight charges,
and every neglected field is a crying argument for
better roads. For some years but little attention
has been given to coffee-growing, notwithstanding
the fact that the neighboring island of Java became
wealthy from its coffee production and set the
standard of excellence for the world.
The remarkable extension of coffee planting in
almost every part of the torrid zone has so increased
the supply that only the better qualities can now
command remunerative prices, and this fact lends
hope for the future development of this industry
in the Philippines, as its berry compares favorably
with that of Java or Martinique, and there are
certain localities which produce coffee which accord-
ing to the evidence of experts can be compared only
with that of Mocha.
The vast agricultural possibilities of the Philip-
pines are big with promise. Spain never contributed
intelligent systematic support to the agriculturist
either in the way of equitable laws or by wise in-
struction or direction. There is no more attractive
field in the world to-day for the skilled agricultural
experimenter. The soil, the climate, the humidity
are all favorable to luxuriant growth. Differences
in elevation place at the command of the planter
all climates from equatorial to temperate, and with
85

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

the new population that is crowding in a market
will be found for all that can be raised.
Wise selections based upon observation and thor-
ough tests will determine what varieties of rice,
cane, tobacco, coffee and other crops are best adapted
to the conditions which obtain in the islands.
Modern methods of planting, cultivating, harvesting
and preparing for market will increase the output
and profits of the farmer, while machines suited to
the various crops will supply to a great degree the
lack of labor which has hitherto been the chief
obstacle to the extensive cultivation of any single
crop. The government has wisely arranged the
tariff so that agricultural machinery is obliged to
pay but a nominal duty, and the agricultural inter-
ests will realize under the new regime that the gov-
ernment desires to foster rather than oppress the
true producers of wealth.
The production of copra is one of the important
industries of the Philippines, copra being simply the
dried meat of the cocoanut, which is one of the
essential plants of insular tropical life, supplying, as
it does, so many industrial, economic and even
medicinal necessities of the natives. Commercially
its chief value is as an oil producer.
The cocoanut belongs to the palm family, the
original home of which is said to have been in India,
but as the fruit is riparian in growth, and is also
a good sailor, ocean currents have carried it to almost
86

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHTLIPPINEB

every tropical island, and it has become a distin-
guishing feature of insular landscapes. The tree
will grow almost anywhere, providing the climate be
warm enough, and does not demand any particular
kind of soil, though sand, salt water and sea breezes
seem to contribute to its growth. The trees may
be grown from the ripe fruit or nuts placed in situ,
or seed beds can be prepared and the young plants
transferred therefrom to the plantation. The trees
where cultivated are usually set from thirty to forty
feet apart, and after being once fairly started require
but little subsequent care. They are of slow
growth, reaching the fruit-producing stage, in good
ground, in about seven years, while trees less favor-
ably situated do not commence to bear until the
twelfth year.
The nuts are collected every four months, and
when possible are floated to market by being made
into a raft bound together with a sort of a net, the
owner riding on top.
During the ten months ending April 30, 1900,
$1,048,260 worth of copra was exported, and for the
corresponding period of the following year the
amount increased to $2,382,900, showing that it is
an important factor in the industrial life of those
people. It is one also that is almost entirely in
native hands. The oil extracted from the copra was
formerly used for illuminating purposes, but it has

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

been found that it is more economical to sell the
copra and purchase petroleum.
Like all other Philippine enterprises, this industry
is capable of marked improvement, and inventive
skill will doubtless make it possible to extract the
meat of the cocoanut in some more expeditious and
economical manner than by scraping it out by hand
with a curved knife.
The cacao is another contribution, like corn and
tobacco, which America has given to the cultivated
crops of the world. It is a tree distinguished for
its beautiful appearance, but even more noted for
its fruit, which is highly prized, as shown by its
botanical name, theobroma (food for the gods). The
seed of this tree when properly roasted gives forth
a delightful aroma, and when well ground and mixed
with the proper proportions of sugar and cinnamon
forms the chocolate of commerce, a nutritious, health-
ful and agreeable food.
The cacao has been cultivated for a long time in
a small way in a number of provinces in Luzon and
Visayas, but it flourishes best in southern Mindanao
and in the district of Davao it is produced in large
quantities and of excellent quality. The tree grows
from thirty to forty feet high, has straight branches,
the leaves oblong or ovate-oblong are acuminate,
strong and smooth and of the same color on both
sides. The small flowers are red in color and very
numerous. The fruit is tinted red or inclined to
88

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

yellow, ovate or oblong, having ten ridges, and simu-
lates to some degree the form of a small cucumber.
The seeds are somewhat larger than an almond.
The cacao, like the coffee, requires both care and
shade, and the banana or a tree called madre cacao
(mother of the cacao) is usually planted with the
cacao in order to protect the young plants from the
direct rays of the sun. It is necessary to remove all
premature flowers, trim off dry branches and keep
the ground well cleared from other growths. The
productive period of the tree continues for about
thirty years, and while it will continue to thrive for
a longer time it ceases to be productive.
The nutmeg grows without cultivation in Cebu
and in Laguna province, and by cultivation will
flourish in all parts of the Islands. In the Dutch
East Indies, where the cultivation of the nutmeg
has received the greatest attention, the plant or tree
grows to a height of forty feet. The trunk is
covered with a thin black bark, slightly mottled in
appearance, and when cut or wounded exudes a red
juice which coagulates on coming in contact with
the air. The fruit in size resembles a small peach,
having a thick husk and a hard pit about the size
of an almond within which the nutmeg is formed.
The latter is enveloped in an aromatic skin or mem-
brane known to commerce as mace. From the beau-
tiful flowers of the tree, which are aromatic, the
natives make a preserve noted for its fragrance.
89

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

While the demand for this product is apparently not
large, yet it forms an important article of commerce
and should not be overlooked when considering the
resources of and opportunities in the Philippines.
The cinnamon tree is also a native of the Philip-
pines, being found in abundance in Mindanao. In
Zamboanga, Caraga and in the mountain districts of
Misamis, varieties of cinnamon of stronger taste and
fragrance than that of Ceylon are found, although
it contains a bitter element which depreciates its
value, but this might be eliminated by cultivation.
The tree should be more highly prized than it is
at present, for it grows easily wherever planted and
requires no special care. The cinnamon of com-
merce is the bark of the branches which is removed
after they have been stripped of the outer bark, and
ought to form an important addition to the resources
of the Islands. Pepper is also produced in many
parts of the Archipelago, but little is exported, as
sufficient attention has not been paid to it to enable
the Philippine product to compete with other parts
of the East Indies.
It is impossible to do more than enumerate the
principal fruits and vegetables grown in the Islands.
But little attention has been paid to improving
varieties, and a great change for the better can be
wrought by intelligent attention to this field. There
are a number of varieties of beans, potatoes, sweet
potatoes, onions, garlic, asparagus, radishes, cab-
90

OPPOBTUNITIES IN THE PHnIPPINX5

bage, artichokes, endives, peppers, tomatoes, carrots,
celery, parsley, indian corn, squash, cucumbers and
melons. Strawberries and pineapples are also grown,
the former to a limited extent and the latter quite
generally. Nearly all the tropical fruits are found
in abundance, and while but little attention has been
given to their cultivation they will lend themselves
to marked improvement by care, will add much to
the pleasures and comforts of the table, and will aid
the housewife in preparing the family menu.
Among the many other trees of economic value
in the Philippines are a number from which essences
or essential oils may be extracted, but the most
important at the present known is the ylang ylang
tree. It grows both in a wild state and under cul-
tivation, attaining a height of about sixty feet. It
is botanically known as cananga odorata (Hook) or
unona odoratisima (Bl) and belongs to the custard
apple family. Its leaves are two and a half inches
wide by six inches long, and the yellow-tinted flow-
ers are about three inches long and of extraordinary
fragrance, from which is distilled the celebrated attar
of ylang ylang.
The attar of roses, the famed essential oil of the
Damask rose of Kazanlik on the slopes of the Bal-
kans, finds a competitor in this Philippine product,
considered by some as its equal in perfume, a more
generous yielder of essence, and therefore a less
expensive basic essence for the perfumer's art.
91

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHrhIPPINms

The ylang ylang, sometimes spelled ilang ilang,
while indigenous to many parts of tropical Asia,
grows best in the Philippines, where it is a favorite
with the natives. The tree is common to many
localities south of Manila, being found chiefly in the
well-populated islands and provinces, and it is
affirmed that it thrives best near human habitations.
It is propagated in plantations by seeds or cuttings
placed about twenty feet apart in each direction.
It grows rapidly in almost any kind of soil. The
flowers appear the third year, and when the tree is
eight years old it will yield as high as one hundred
pounds of blossom. It blooms every month, but the
best period is from July to December.
The process of converting the long yellow petals
of the flower into essence is by the simplest form of
distillation, no chemicals being required. The oil
vaporizes in a closed boiler at a temperature of 2200
F. The first quality must be as clear as distilled
water and of course fragrant, while the second grade
is somewhat yellow and smoky. The oil is drawn
from the bottom of a glass separator, filtered through
talcum and then is ready for the market. About
seventy-five pounds of flowers will yield one pound of
oil. The flowers are worth from eight to fifteen
cents, gold, per pound and costs about $4 to manu-
facture. It is practically without competition in
the markets of western nations and readily sells at
from $40 to $55 per pound, the supply being un-
92

OPPORTtJNrIMS IN THE PHIIPIPRM

equal to the demand. The perfumers of Europe,
and to a less degree those of the United States, make
it the basis of some of their most expensive extracts.
The supply hitherto employed in the United States
has been imported from Germany and France, which
countries have a monopoly of the product, which is
usually secured in advance under contract.
The yield of attar of roses is small. It requires a
hundred and fifty pounds of leaves to produce an
ounce of the oil, so the yield of the oil of ylang ylang
is over thirty times greater than that of the attar of
roses.
There are flowering groves in many parts of
southern Luzon and the Visayan Islands, and it is
stated that the vicinity of Manila is well adapted to
the growth of this beautiful and valuable tree.

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

CHAPTER VIII
BANKING AND CURRENCY
THE PRESENT banking facilities in the Philip-
pines are provided for by the following institu-
tions: The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Cor-
poration, the home office of which is in Hongkong
with branches in the Philippines at Manila and
Iloilo. According to a report made to the Philip-
pine Commission by the Treasurer of the Islands on
June 30, 1901, this bank reported assets and liabili-
ties amounting to $19,036,636.74 (Mexican) at its
Manila branch and $2,170,277.93 at Iloilo.
The Chartered Bank of India, Australia and
China, with home offices in London, reported on the
same date assets and liabilities amounting to $13,-
315,199.27 (Mexican) at Manila and the branch at
Cebu reported $605,473.45.
El Banco Espafiol Filipino (The Spanish Philip-
pine Bank) reported assets and liabilities to the
amount of $10,452,541.78 for the home bank at
Manila and $1,212,597.12 for its branch at Iloilo.
El Monte de Piedad y Caja de Ahorros de Manila
(The Pawn Shop and Savings Bank of Manila) re-
ported assets and liabilities to the amount of
$1,156,718.38 (Mexican).
These are the only regularly organized banks in

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

the Archipelago, though, as is the custom in many
Oriental and Latin lands, some of the stronger com-
mercial houses with European connections do a cer-
tain amount of exchange business.
The Spanish Philippine Bank is the only one
authorized to issue bank notes. According to the
charter secured from the Spanish government it was
authorized to issue notes to four times the amount
of its paid-up capital, but many of its notes have
been called in since American occupation. At the
date of the report above mentioned it had outstand-
ing $2,164,040.00 in such notes, and this constitutes
the paper circulation of the Islands.
It is rather galling to American pride that it is
impossible to draw a draft on the United States
without having it pass through a bank belonging to
some other nation. Without ships to carry freight
and passengers or banks to provide exchange or
banking accommodations, the wonder is that Ameri-
can business has increased as rapidly as it has both
in China and the Philippines.
Throughout the Orient may be found branches of
the two English banks first above mentioned, and
they have been powerful factors in giving to Great
Britain a controlling influence in the Far East.
Other nations, however, have entered the field re-
cently. Germany has banking institutions at pres-
ent in most of the treaty ports of the Chinese
Empire, and Russia, through the Russo-Chinese

OProILTUMrns IN THE PHILtPPnrn

Bank, is laying the foundation for an important part
of the Pacific trade of the Orient.
It is the expressed opinion of an eminent Ameri-
can statesman that "a golden reward awaits the
genius of finance who shall establish in the Orient
an American financial institution of magnitude and
money power to match the magnitude and power of
the American nation, and which shall be equal to
the commanding commercial position to which the
American people aspire in the Far East."
"The methods of banking in the East are crude
and, one is almost tempted to say, dishonest. A
bank discounts its own notes between two ports,
estimating the amount of the discount by the cost
required in transporting that exact amount of specie
separately and by itself between those two ports.
That is, if you present a note issued by a banking
corporation at Hongkong to its branch at Tien-Tsin,
it will not be redeemed at its face value, but at a
rate measured by the cost of transferring that amount
of silver taken by itself between those two points.
The system of issuing notes of exchange is unscien-
tific and chaotic, and at every point the bank cuts a
profit for itself. Like Russian banks in Russia, they
go into every conceivable transaction-shaving
always and everywhere. They therefore are not
conducted on the broad lines of modern scientific
methods, but upon the small and antiquated lines
of immediate dividends to their stockholders. An
96